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Johnny Depp
Birth Name: John Christopher Depp II
Nickname: "Mr. Stench"
Date of birth: June 9, 1963
Place of Birth: Owensboro, KY USA
Height: 5' 10" (1.78 m)
Wife: Amber Heard

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    Johnny Depp Has 'Bromance' with Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman

    (2/14/24) Johnny Depp has a new powerful, and allegedly dangerous, friend in Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- and their relationship's being described as a "bromance like no other."

    The seemingly odd pairing is detailed in a new profile in Vanity Fair ... which claims Johnny is getting the royal treatment over in Saudi Arabia.

    MBS hosted JD in the Saudi Kingdom for nearly 2 months last year, putting Johnny up in royal palaces and transporting him in helicopters, yachts and a private plane ... according to Vanity Fair.

    Unsurprisingly, it sounds like money is a huge factor in this "bromance" ... Johnny's shooting movies in Saudi Arabia as he waits on a potential 7-figure deal to make him one of the nation's global cultural ambassadors.

    MBS and the Saudis have been trying to buy their way into all sorts of global industries as part of MBS' grand plan to make people overlook his country's reported human rights abuses ... and the Crown Prince has been investing big in movies.

    Johnny and MBS are said to have begun their friendship in July 2022 when Depp was shooting "Jeanne du Barry," a film bankrolled by the Saudis.

    They've grown closer ever since, to the point where Johnny says he felt comfortable enough to ask MBS about the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

    The VF profile says MBS told Depp he didn't order Khashoggi's dismemberment, but took responsibility ... claiming he just wanted the reporter arrested because Khashoggi had become a rogue operative working to undermine the country.

    Johnny definitely seems to be buying what MBS is selling in terms of a cultural revolution in Saudia Arabia.

    Depp tells VF ... "Though I admit I was somewhat naïve at first to what was transpiring in the region, I’ve since experienced firsthand the cultural revolution that is happening there."

    JD added, "I've had the opportunity to meet people from various parts of the region who have been most welcoming in sharing with me their culture, their traditions, and their stories."

    Saudia Arabia is also financing Depp's next crack at directing a movie ... a biopic about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani starring Al Pacino.

    There are some ties that bind here -- both men are remaking their public images ... but it seems doubtful they'd be pals if MBS weren't throwing around insane amounts of oil money.

    Johnny Depp Hails “Transformative” Experience Of Directing ‘Modi’ As First Behind-The-Scenes Images Revealed Of Depp, Al Pacino & More

    (1/18/24) (Pic1, Pic2, Pic3) First behind-the-scenes images have been revealed of Johnny Depp directing biopic Modi, which is wrapping production.

    The biopic of painter Amedeo Modigliani marks Depp’s first directing role in 25 years and stars Riccardo Scamarcio, Antonia Desplat, Stephen Graham, Bruno Gouery, Ryan McParland, Luisa Ranieri, Sally Phillips and Al Pacino.

    Depp said today: “Embarking on this cinematic journey as the director of Modi has been an incredibly fulfilling and transformative experience. I would like to express my profound gratitude to the entire cast, crew, and producers for their unwavering commitment and creativity. To Al, who requested that I make this film—how could I refuse Pacino? A sincere acknowledgement for generously contributing his talent and dedication to this project. Modi is a testament to the collaborative spirit of independent filmmaking, and I am excited to present this unique and compelling story to the world.”

    The movie was shot mostly in Budapest, Romania, with Al Pacino’s scenes captured most recently back in the States.

    Pic follows the life of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani in a 48-hour whirlwhind, capturing a chaotic series of events through the streets and bars of war-torn Paris during World War One. On the run from the police, hiss desire to end his career and leave the city is dismissed by fellow Bohemians. The chaos reaches a crescendo when he’s faced with a collector who could change his life.

    Producers are Depp’s European production company, IN.2 alongside producer Barry Navidi. Depp most recently starred in Cannes French-language drama Jeanne Du Barry. Entertainment Weekly had the images first.

    Hollywood Vampires Postpones U.S. Tour Dates Due To Johnny Depp Ankle Injury

    (5/29/23) The Hollywood Vampires – the supergroup of Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry – has postponed three scheduled North American tour dates this week due to an ankle injury suffered by Depp.

    The shows, originally set for May 30, May 31 and June 1 in Manchester, NH, Boston and Bethel, NY, respectively, have been rescheduled for late July, according to an announcement by the band.

    “We are sad to share that the Hollywood Vampires will be rescheduling our three US tour dates this coming week,” the band says on its social media accounts. “Johnny has sustained a painful injury to his ankle following his recent appearances and has been advised by his doctor not to travel. He is devastated by this turn of events, but looks forward to resting up so all four Vampires can bring their absolute best to the tour in Europe.” (In addition to Cooper, Depp and Perry, the band includes guitarist and bassist Tommy Henriksen.)

    The three original U.S. dates had been planned as as a lead-in to a European tour that includes stops in Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, France and others.

    Depp recently performed on stage in a couple of U.K. Jeff Beck tribute concerts. Just prior to those shows he greeted press at the Cannes Film Festival to promote his latest movie Jeanne du Barry.

    Johnny Depp Says At Cannes Press Conference He Doesn’t Feel Boycotted By Hollywood: “The Majority Of What You’ve Read Is Fantastically Horrifically Written Fiction”

    (5/17/23) A humbled and defensive Johnny Depp spoke up at the Cannes press conference Wednesday for the fest’s opening-night film Jeanne du Barry. Not only was he moved by the standing ovation in the Grand Theatre Lumière, but he also referred to the wake of the Amber Heard trial headlines (without pointing to it), exclaiming, “In regards to me and my life, the majority of what you’ve read is fantastically horrifically written fiction.”

    Asked by Deadline whether he still felt boycotted by Hollywood, feelings he expressed back in an August 2021 Sunday Times interview, the three-time Oscar nominee answered, “Did I feel a boycott by Hollywood? Well, you’d have to not have a pulse to feel at that point, ‘None of this is happening, it’s just a weird joke or I have been asleep for 35 years.’ Of course, when you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing, because of something that is merely a bunch of kind of vowels and consonants floating in the air, you feel a boycott.”

    “Do I feel a boycott now? No, not at all. I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t have much further need for Hollywood myself,” he added. “I think it’s a very strange, funny time where everybody wants to be themselves, but they can’t, they must fall in line, conform — and if you want to lead this life, I’ll be on the other side.”

    Jeanne du Barry has been billed as the actor’s big-screen comeback movie after a three-year hiatus, while he battled his ex-wife Amber Heard in the courts, winning a defamation trial against her last summer.

    But Depp challenged the “comeback” line.

    “They’re using it as a kind of catchphrase. ‘The guy’s making a comeback.’ I’ve had about 17 comebacks by the way, apparently,” he said.

    “I keep wondering about the word ‘comeback’ because I didn’t go anywhere, he continued. “As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away so, yeah. Maybe, maybe people stopped calling. I don’t know what their fear was at the time. I didn’t go nowhere. I’ve been sitting around. So ‘comeback’ is almost like I’m going to come out and do a tap dance or something like that.”

    Asked by a reporter how he felt about the controversy surrounding his presence at Cannes, specifically those who didn’t want him here at the 76th edition, Depp answered, “What if they said to me, I cannot go to McDonald’s for life because somewhere if you got them all in one room, 39 people saw me watching me eat a Big Mac on a loop. Who are they? Why do they care? Some species or tower of mashed potatoes covered in light from a computer screen? Anonymous.”

    In Jeanne du Barry, Depp plays Louis XV while filmmaker Maïwenn stars as his newly recruited mistress, Countess Jeanne du Barry.

    Depp discussed Maïwenn’s bravado in selecting a non-French actor to play King Louis; the director mentioned that she had already gone out to some French actors who passed, but found Depp an anomaly, not for how long he has lived in France but also for his deep knowledge of the country’s politics, art and cinema. “He knew more about Louis VX than I did,” the filmmaker admitted.

    “I was surprised to be chosen for this role,” said Depp. “Yeah, I thought someone had made a terrible mistake.”

    “Maybe you want to try a French guy as King Louis,” he said he told Maïwenn. “She thought about it for a second. I thought about it for a second. It was brave of her to choose some hillbilly from Kentucky…”

    Depp later said that one of his biggest aims for the role to take on the mantel of Louis XV in such a way that the audience would forget it was him on the big screen.

    “You need to figure out a way that the viewer can forget who you are, all the baggage you carry… that was my biggest hope that the viewer would forget who had in front of him,” he said.

    Off-screen from playing her rebellious title character, Maïwenn admitted in a recent TV interview to assaulting Mediapart editor-in-chief Edwy Plenel, which entailed pulling back his hair and spitting on him in a Parisian restaurant.

    “She’s outspokenly anti-#MeToo and she made a gesture to please her world, and that’s why she bragged about it on TV. We could see a sort of pride that echoed that world,” Plenel blasted about Maïwenn in a recent Variety interview about the altercation.

    Johnny Depp Dior Paying Him Over $20 Million ... In Record-Setting Deal

    (5/12/23) Johnny Depp is being paid a record amount to be the face of Dior's Sauvage men's scent.

    The actor's three-year deal with Dior is worth north of $20 million ... according to Variety. It's the most lucrative men's fragrance deal of all time.

    TMZ broke the story ... Johnny signed back on with Dior in August, following his big-time legal win over Amber Heard. At the time, we were told Johnny and Dior agreed to a multiyear deal worth at least 7 figures ... and now there's more clarity on the contract details.

    With his $20 million deal, Johnny overtakes Robert Pattinson as the highest-paid spokesman for a cologne. Robert set the mark in 2012, when he signed a 3-year, $12 million deal to promote Dior Homme.

    Johnny's nearly tripling the amount Chanel paid Brad Pitt to be the first ever men's face behind Chanel N°5 perfume, Brad reportedly signed for $7 million in 2012 for a series of ads.

    As we first reported ... Johnny's new deal with Dior was cemented last summer after famous fashion photog Greg Williams and honchos from the French fashion and cosmetics giant attended one of Johnny and Jeff Beck's rock concerts in Paris.

    We were told Johnny did a photo shoot with Greg before and after the Paris show, and the content will be used in JD's new Dior ad campaign.

    Johnny's got a long history with Dior ... he first signed with the company in 2015 as the face of the scent.

    Dior's betting big on Johnny again ... with a record-setting deal.

    Johnny Depp Sets Cast For His Modigliani Biopic With Riccardo Scamarcio, Pierre Niney & Al Pacino Starring

    (5/10/23) On the eve of his acting return at the Cannes Film Festival, Johnny Depp has set a buzzy first round of cast for Modi, his first directorial effort in 25 years.

    The biopic of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani will be led by Italian star Riccardo Scamarcio (John Wick Chapter 2), Cesar Award winner Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent) and screen icon Al Pacino (The Godfather).

    Filming is due to get underway in Budapest this fall and the hot package is being sold at the Cannes market by The Veterans. Additional casting is underway.

    Based on a play by Dennis McIntyre and adapted for the screen by Jerzy and Mary Kromolowski, the film will tell the story of the famous painter and sculptor Modigliani during his time in Paris in 1916.

    The movie will chronicle the life of the Italian artist across a turbulent and eventful 48 hours which sees him on the run from police through the streets and bars of war-torn Paris. His desire to prematurely end his career and leave the city is dismissed by fellow bohemians: French artist Maurice Utrillo, the Belarusian-born Chaim Soutine and his English muse and lover, Beatrice Hastings. Modi seeks advice from his Polish art dealer and friend Leopold Zborowski, but the chaos reaches a crescendo when he’s faced with a collector who could change his life.

    Italian star Scamarcio, known for roles in movies including The Best of Youth, Paolo Sorrentino’s Loro, John Wick: Chapter 2, Nanni Moretti’s Tre Piani and Romanzo Criminale, will play the title role.

    Acclaimed French actor Niney, known for movies such as Yves Saint Laurent and Frantz, has been cast as Utrillo, with Pacino set to appear as international art collector Gangnat.

    The film marks Navidi’s fourth collaboration with Pacino whom he worked with on The Merchant Of Venice (2004), Wilde Salomé (2011), and Salomé (2013). Depp and Pacino also starred opposite each other in the 1997 crime flick Donnie Brasco.

    “This is a snapshot of Modigliani’s life that gives us insight into his struggle as an artist suffering from lack of recognition, and a project Al and I have pursued for many years,” said Navidi. “Our incredible cast, coupled with the vision, wit and sensitivity I know Johnny will bring behind the camera, will make this a dream come true.”

    Nicola Pecorini (The Legend of Don Quixote) has joined as director of photography, Andrew Sanders and John Beard will lead production design and Penny Rose (Pirates of the Caribbean) will handle costuming. Sharon Howard-Field (Merchant of Venice) will oversee casting.

    Navidi and IN.2 (Jeanne du Barry) will produce alongside Depp. Local production in Budapest will be handled by Proton Cinema.

    Modigliani will be Depp’s second feature directorial turn after 1997’s The Brave, in which he also starred alongside Marlon Brando. He also directed several music videos for his ex-wife Vanessa Paradis.

    Depp’s anticipated acting comeback film Jeanne du Barry will open the Cannes Film Festival next week. He will play King Louis XV in French director Maïwenn’s historical love story, marking his first movie in three years.

    Depp is repped by Jack Whigham at Range Media Partners.

    George Clooney On Mark Wahlberg & Johnny Depp Turning Down ‘Ocean’s Eleven’: “They Regret It Now”

    (4/18/23) George Clooney is talking about some of the Hollywood stars that turned down starring in Ocean’s Eleven.

    During the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival, Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh celebrated the 2001 film. Clooney revealed that Mark Wahlberg and Johnny Depp were in talks to play Linus, the role that ultimately went to Matt Damon.

    “Steven had just done Erin Brockovich and Traffic, and he was nominated for directing both films,” Clooney said at the event, via Entertainment Weekly. “So, people really wanted to work with Steven.”

    Soderbergh added that some actors turned down the offer with Clooney adding, “They did. Some very famous people told us to f**k right off. Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Depp. There were others. They regret it now. I regret doing f***ing Batman.”

    The director recalled that the idea of making Ocean’s Eleven came as he was looking into combining the work he was doing with indies with mainstream big-budget Hollywood films.

    “It felt like the next iteration in my desire to work in the mainstream film business and make movies that could be released in a lot of theaters,” Soderbergh said.

    Clooney added, “It’s also important to understand where we were at the time. The studios were making very big, broad, not very good films at that time. Steven had this idea of trying to infuse all of this independent film stuff that all of these young filmmakers were learning back into the studio system. It was going to get back to the things that they were doing from like 1964 to 1975.”

    Amber Heard Settles Johnny's Defamation Case ... Paying Only $1 Million

    (12/19/22) Amber Heard is closing the book on the defamation case brought by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp -- a decision that's going to cost her 7 figures.

    The actress just issued a lengthy statement announcing that she's settled with Johnny -- this as opposed to going through with her appeal -- which she just recently filed. Amber says, in part ... "This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."

    Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Amber is going to shell out just $1 million to Johnny -- but we're told it'll be money from her insurance company, not her own pocket.

    As for what she has to say about it further ... Amber explains she never chose this, and that all she ever did was defend and speak her truth -- which she notes has destroyed her life ... via vilification through social media and beyond, which she calls a humiliation she can't relive again. AH says she did this to move forward and emancipate herself from this saga.

    Amber also makes sure to mention the fact that she has lost faith in the American legal system -- having been found liable for defaming Johnny, whereas in the UK ... the verdict came in her favor. She says she has exhausted almost all of her resources in fighting this thing here -- and in the end, it seems she's decided it was going to be a losing battle.

    One other thing ... Amber says she's going to now focus on things that matter to her life, including working for causes she believes in, not to mention time with her daughter.

    She adds, "I will not be threatened, disheartened or dissuaded by what happened from speaking the truth. No one can and no one will take that from me. My voice forever remains the most valuable asset I have." Amber ends by thanking those who've backed her all along.

    A source close to Johnny Depp tells us he'll be making a pledge followed by a contribution to several charities using the $1M. Contrary to what Amber Heard says, our source tells us the judgment can still be used against her in the future if she repeats the defamatory allegations.

    Depp's attorneys, Camille Vasquez and Benjamin Chew, tell us, "We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process his intent to bring the truth to light."

    They continue, "This was never about the money. The jury's unanimous decision and the judgment in his favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place, and the payment of $1M -- which Mr. Depp is pledging and will donate to charities -- reinforces Ms. Heard's acknowledgment of the conclusion of the legal system's rigorous pursuit for justice."

    Johnny Depp Tops Google 2022 Search Lists

    (12/7/22) Actors
    1 Johnny Depp
    2 Will Smith
    3 Amber Heard
    4 Chris Rock
    5 Jada Pinkett Smith
    6 Joseph Quinn
    7 Evan Peters
    8 Andrew Garfield
    9 Julia Fox
    10 Ezra Miller

    Johnny Depp I Shouldn't Have to Pay Amber $2 Mil ... Appeals Defamation Verdict

    (11/3/22) Johnny Depp wants total victory over Amber Heard, and he's just filed an appeal trying to get it ... claiming the jury got it wrong when it ruled in favor of his ex-wife on a single count of defamation.

    You'll recall, Johnny was the big winner, by far, when the jury came back in their landmark trial, saying Amber had defamed him and had to cough up $10.35 million dollars -- but it also ruled Amber was defamed, and awarded her $2 mil.

    In docs filed Wednesday in the Virginia Court of Appeals, Johnny says the jury had erroneously ruled in favor of Amber ... when it said one of Johnny's attorneys, Adam Waldman, defamed Amber by telling a media outlet she had lied while describing a blowout fight that ended their marriage.

    Waldman said, "So Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then placed a second call to 911."

    In the appeal, Johnny makes the point that his lawyer said that, not him, and he shouldn't be held responsible for Waldman's remarks. He also says Amber's team failed to prove Waldman made those comments with malice ... a requirement to win a defamation claim.

    Johnny wants the court to overturn the jury on that single count. Remember, Amber has also filed an appeal of the counts she lost.

    So, scoreboard review: Amber's $10.35 mil check to Johnny is on hold and, likewise, his $2 mil check to her is on hold.

    New Image of Johnny Depp As Louis XV In Maïwenn’s ‘Jeanne Du Barry’ Unveiled As Wild Bunch International Posts Key Territory Deals

    (11/1/22) (Photo) Wild Bunch International (WBI) has released a fresh image of Johnny Depp as Louis XV in French director Maïwenn’s ambitious costume drama Jeanne du Barry, in which she also co-stars as the titular courtesan, and unveiled a raft of first theatrical deals.

    The historical love story has been acquired for France (Le Pacte), Benelux (Paradiso Filmed Entertainment), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Italy and Spain (Notorious Pictures), Greece (Spentzos Film), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), ex-Yugoslavia (MCF), Hungary (ADS Service), Czech Republic (Film New Europe), Romania (Independenta), Poland (Gutek) and CIS (World Vision).

    Post-production is currently underway on the film after an 11-week shoot at locations including the Palace of Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as in the studio.

    Why Not Productions (Rust And Bone and A Prophet) lead produces with IN2 and France Télévisions also on board as producers.

    The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years, following his victory in his turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

    Having released the first image of Depp in character as the shoot got underway in August, the production has released a new image of the actor in costume.

    The drama is freely inspired by the life of Jeanne du Barry, Louis XV’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versailles, after Madame de Pompadour.

    The illegitimate daughter of a seamstress, Jeanne du Barry uses her intelligence and beauty to rise through the ranks of 18th Century Paris high society and Louis XV’s Court at Versailles.

    She becomes Louis XV’s favorite companion. Unaware of her status as a courtesan, he regains his appetite for life thanks to their relationship. They fall madly in love. Against all propriety and etiquette, Jeanne moves to Versailles, where her arrival scandalizes the court.

    Jeanne du Barry is Maïwenn’s sixth feature and most ambitious production to date after Cannes 2011 Jury Prize winner Polisse; My King, for which Emmanuelle Bercot won best actress in Cannes in 2015, and semi-autobiographical work DNA, which was feted with Cannes special 2020 label.

    As well as co-starring and directing, Maïwenn also co-wrote the screenplay with Teddy Lussi-Modeste.

    Further cast members include Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Richard, Melvil Poupaud, Noémie Lvovsky, Pascal Greggory and India Hair.

    Key crew include cinematographer Laurent Dailland, production designer Angelo Zamparutti, costume designer Yurgen Doering, John Nollet on hair design, Tom Pécheux on make-up and Nicolas Provost on sound. Stephen Warbeck is composing the original music.

    Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Defamation Case TV Movie To Premiere On Tubi

    (9/15/22) Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial, a scripted original movie based on the controversial Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation case, is set to premiere on Tubi on September 30.

    Starring Mark Hapka (Parallels, Days of Our Lives) as Depp and Megan Davis (Alone in the Dark) as Heard, the film is written by Guy Nicolucci (The Daily Show) and directed by Sara Lohman (Secrets in the Woods). It hails from Fox Entertainment’s indie studio MarVista Entertainment.

    Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial follows the tumultuous relationship – in and out of court – of Depp and his ex-wife Heard in a dramatization of the two-month defamation trial.

    Melissa Marty (Station 19) will join Hapka and Davis as Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez and Mary Carrig (Law & Order: True Crime) joins as Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft.

    “Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial has ‘Hot Take’ in the title for a reason,” said Adam Lewinson, Chief Content Officer, Tubi. “With our partners at MarVista, this Tubi Original was fast-tracked into production to capture a timely take on a story that became part of the cultural zeitgeist, painting a unique picture of what millions watched play out in the headlines over the summer.”

    The trial concluded on June 1, with the jury ruling that Aquaman star Heard defamed Depp in a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Depp was awarded around $10.4 million in damages, which Heard has appealed. The jury found that Heard was defamed in one of her claims, awarding her $2 million in compensatory damages.

    The film is executive produced by Brittany Clemons, Angie Day, Marianne C. Wunch, Hannah Pillemer and Fernando Szew. Autumn Federici and Kristifor Cvijetic serve as producers under their The Ninth House banner.

    Johnny Depp Appears As Moon Person At MTV VMAs: ‘I Needed The Work’

    (8/28/22) Johnny Depp made an appearance at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards dressed as the show’s mascot — the moon person. This was the actor’s first appearance since the defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.

    After Jack Harlow, Fergie and Lizzo’s performance, Depp showed up digitally seemingly floating over the Prudential Center arena.

    “And you know what? I needed the work,” Depp was heard saying.

    Depp would later make another cameo where he said, “Hey VMAs, let’s get back to the f***ing music, shall we?”

    In a later segment, Depp offers his professional services.

    “I just want you guys to know that I’m available for birthdays, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, weddings, any ol’ thing you need… ANYTHING, you name it. So, oh, I’m also a dentist,” he said after the commercial break.

    Johnny Depp To Direct ‘Modigliani’, His First Directorial Effort in 25 Years; Al Pacino Co-Producing

    (8/15/22) Johnny Depp is due to hop back into the director’s seat for the first time in 25 years with Modigliani, a feature film about the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, which he will co-produce alongside Al Pacino.

    Sources close to Depp confirmed the news of the production with Deadline. Barry Navidi will co-produce alongside Depp and Pacino. The film marks Navidi’s fourth collaboration with Pacino whom he worked with on The Merchant Of Venice (2004), Wilde Salomé (2011), and Salomé (2013). Depp and Pacino also starred opposite each other in the 1997 crime flick Donnie Brasco.

    Based on a play by Dennis McIntyre and adapted for the screen by Jerzy and Mary Kromolowski, the film will tell the story of the painter and sculptor in Paris in 1916. Modigliani will chronicle the life of the Italian artist across a turbulent and eventful 48 hours. THR first reported news of the project.

    The project is aiming to shoot in 2023. There is no word yet whether Depp will also act in the film. The Italian artist was previously the subject of 2004 biopic starring Andy Garcia.

    Modigliani will be Depp’s second feature directorial credit after 1997’s The Brave, in which he also starred alongside Marlon Brando. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. Depp has also directed several music videos for his ex-wife Vanessa Paradis.

    Depp is currently in production as King Louis XV in French director Maïwenn’s historical love story Jeanne du Barry, his first movie in three years. As we revealed last week, shooting began on the film on July 26 and will last 11 weeks, with locations including Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region. Last week, Deadline revealed the first image of Depp in costume. You can check out the image here.

    The actor recently won a turbulent defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Two years ago he had lost a libel case against UK tabloid The Sun. During this time, Depp claimed he was blacklisted by Hollywood after he was dropped from Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise.

    Johnny Depp As King Louis XV: First Image Released Of Actor In Maïwenn’s ‘Jeanne Du Barry’, Filming Underway In France

    (8/10/22) France’s Why Not Productions has unveiled a playful first teaser image of Johnny Depp in the role of King Louis XV in French director Maïwenn’s historical love story Jeanne du Barry, in which she also co-stars as the titular courtesan. Check it out below.

    Rust And Bone and A Prophet production company Why Not has also confirmed that shoot began on July 26 for 11 weeks, with locations including Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as the studio.

    The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years, and follows hot on the heels of his victory in his turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

    The ambitious drama is freely inspired by the life of Jeanne du Barry, Louis XV’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versaille, after Madame de Pompadour.

    Born into poverty, she is a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure who uses her intelligence and allure to climb the rungs of the social ladder one by one.

    She becomes Louis XV’s favorite companion. Unaware of her status as a courtesan, he regains his appetite for life thanks to their relationship. They fall madly in love. Against all propriety and etiquette, Jeanne moves to Versailles, where her arrival scandalizes the court.

    Further cast members include Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Richard, Melvil Poupaud, Noémie Lvovsky, Pascal Greggory and India Hair.

    Pascal Caucheteux and Grégoire Sorlat’s Why Not is lead producing with IN2 and France Télévisions also on board as producers.

    The French-language period drama was an intriguing package at Cannes this May for French sales powerhouse Wild Bunch International. Le Pacte is handling French distribution.

    Jeanne du Barry is Maïwenn’s sixth feature and most ambitious production to date after Cannes 2011 Jury Prize winner Polisse; My King, for which Emmanuelle Bercot won best actress in Cannes in 2015, and semi-autobiographical work DNA, which was feted with Cannes special 2020 label.

    As well as directing and co-starring, Maïwenn also co-wrote the screenplay with Teddy Lussi-Modeste.

    Key crew include cinematographer Laurent Dailland, production designer Angelo Zamparutti, costume designer Yurgen Doering, John Nollet on hair design, Tom Pécheux on make-up and Nicolas Provost on sound. Stephen Warbeck is composing the original music. (Photo: Johnny Depp in Jeanne du Barry)

    JOHNNY DEPP I'm Back With Dior New 7-Figure Deal As Fragrance Face

    (8/9/22) If there were any doubts big names would get behind Johnny Depp again following his legal win over Amber Heard, lay them to rest ... Dior is betting big on JD with a new contract.

    Sources directly connected to the deal tell TMZ … Johnny just signed back with Dior to be the face of their Sauvage men's scent. We're told in all, it's a multi-year deal worth 7-figures.

    We're told the deal recently came together, and was cemented after Dior honchos and famous fashion photog Greg Williams attended one of Johnny and Jeff Beck's rock concerts in Paris as a show of support for JD.

    Our sources say Johnny did a photo shoot with Greg before and after the Paris show, and the content will be used in a new Dior advertising campaign.

    Remember ... Johnny first signed with Dior back in 2015 as the face of the cologne and the deal has just been re-upped. It's interesting ... after Amber first made her allegations against Johnny, the Sauvage commercial stopped airing on TV.

    As we first told you ... Johnny's OG ad started getting some prime time placement on FOX after he scored a courtroom victory against Amber ... and now he's got a new deal that will last for years.

    Johnny-Amber Unsealed Docs Sis Whitney Allegedly Confessed That Amber Had Cut Off His Finger

    (8/1/22) UPDATE: 9:46 AM PT -- More revelations from the unsealed docs. Per reports, there's a deposition transcript included in the material that didn't make it to trial, detailing the Australia fingertip incident ... as told by Amber's sister's former boss, who claims Whitney admitted her sister was responsible.

    The woman's name is Jennifer Howell -- an art curator whom Whitney Henriquez worked for during this period -- and, supposedly, during her own grilling in the case (pre-trial), she told Johnny's attorneys that in 2015 ... Whitney had recounted the ugly episode to her in person.

    Howell claims in her depo that Whitney was with her when Amber contacted her sister to tell her what had happened -- and according to Whitney's ex-boss, she allegedly said Amber had "done it now," which seems to reference crossing the line as it pertains to fights with Johnny.

    This is what JH reportedly said to Camille Vasquez in the unearthed transcript ... "And she goes, ‘She cut off his finger. She cut off his finger.’ And then she bolted out the door and was like, ‘I got to call somebody. I got to call somebody.'"

    When Camille pressed about who "she" was, Howell responded ... "It was Amber and Johnny, and she apparently had thrown a bottle and cut off his finger, is what (Henriquez) reported when she came back in from whoever she talked to outside."

    Like we said, this portion of Howell's depo was nixed from the trial -- but a small, limited section of it did actually get played in court -- although, it wasn't the bombshell this is.

    Johnny Depp and Amber Heard each wanted to seriously paint the other in a bad light -- worse even than we saw at trial ... with even more damning claims surfacing post-verdict.

    A treasure trove of court docs has been unsealed, and according to multiple outlets ... they contain mountains of unheard evidence that ultimately didn't make it in front of the jury -- forming salacious allegations about each party that hadn't been known until now.

    Some of the more noteworthy ones include a claim from Team Johnny that Amber allegedly worked as a stripper and escort at some point early in her career -- something his lawyers apparently wanted to present at trial, but were shot down in the end by Judge Azcarate.

    There's also reportedly mention of a reality show Amber's sister, Whitney, shot once upon a time which contained what Team Johnny seems to have thought was some harmful info about Amber -- also having to do with her past -- but the judge wouldn't let that in either.

    As for Team Amber ... her lawyers wanted to enter Marilyn Manson texts between him and Johnny that they felt showed him giving pointers to his pal about how to deal with an "amber type scenario" of his own ... and even seeking refuge with Johnny in 2016 amid relationship problems he was dealing with that seemed to be teetering into legal territory.

    One text from MM to JD around that time reportedly read, "I got a serious police amber type scenarios with L’s family. I’m f**king stressing. I don’t know if you are back but I need asylum somewhere because I think the cops might be headed my way." This is in reference to someone named Lindsay, whom Manson said had pulled something similar to Amber and who he called "amber 2.0" ... to which Johnny responded with acknowledgment and support.

    There's more evidence AH wanted entered about how Johnny's 'Pirates 5' days were worse than previously thought -- and how Disney was supposedly fuming about his behavior throughout production. She also wanted to mention other cases he was dealing with -- including his assault lawsuit, which he recently settled ... all of which were omitted.

    As we all know, the evidence presented was pretty focused and specific to Johnny's specific defamation claims, and Amber's own as well. We got an earful from just that alone, but if any of this other stuff had been permitted ... the case probably would've lasted way longer.

    Johnny Depp makes millions after debut art collection sells out

    (7/30/22) The 59-year-old actor pocketed US$3.6 million after selling 780 prints through Castle Fine Art gallery in London, the BBC reported.

    His debut collection features portraits of Al Pacino, Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Taylor and Keith Richards.

    “I’ve always used art to express my feelings,” Depp said in a statement shared by the gallery. “My paintings surround my life, but I kept them to myself and limited myself. No one should ever limit themselves.”

    According to the BBC, Depp’s post on Instagram, captioned only “NOW AT #CASTLEFINEART”, caused the gallery’s website to crash.

    Framed individual prints went for US$3,973, with the complete portfolio of four images selling for US$15,040.

    “Each image is an intimate reflection of their character in Johnny’s eyes; a portrayal of how they have revealed themselves to him,” Castle Fine Art said of his Friends & Heroes collection. “From his dear friend Keith Richards, who inspired the mannerisms of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, to Bob Dylan, whose creative influence on the artist is seen in his vivid and immortal portrayal by Johnny.”

    Castle Fine Art said Depp’s prints “proved to be our fastest-selling collection to date, selling out in just hours.”

    Earlier this month, Depp released a series of NFTs called Never Fear Truth, raising nearly US$800,000. The Pirates of the Caribbean star donated the proceeds to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Footprint Coalition and the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

    “We are grateful and very thankful to the Never Fear Truth community for this tremendous accomplishment – making this project one of the most philanthropic NFT sales to date – and we are excited to build on this success and making an even greater impact going forward,” a message from Depp’s Never Fear Truth Twitter account read.

    The sale comes after Depp won a high-profile defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard last month.

    Last week, Heard filed notice to appeal the verdict, in which a seven-person jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages (which is capped at $350,000) over a 2018 op-ed where she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

    The three-time Oscar nominee claimed her article ruined his career and led to a series of cancelled film projects, including a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean feature.

    “We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment,” a spokesperson for Heard told the Toronto Sun. “We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”

    In response, Depp’s legal team filed their own appeal after he was found guilty of one count of defamation through statements made by his former attorney Adam Waldman.

    “Mr. Depp ended up filing his own appeal so that the court could have the full record. And – she insists on continuing to litigate this matter, and we have to protect our client’s interest,” Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez said in an interview with with Gayle King on CBS Mornings.

    “In order to protect his interests, as his representative, we have to respond to the appeal with his own appeal.”

    Johnny Depp Creates Blind, Seafaring Con-Man Character For Video Game Trailer

    (7/29/22) Before the prolonged agony of his multimillion dollar defamation trial with ex Amber Heard, Johnny Depp had some fun doing what he does best: creating a delightfully eccentric character.

    The project was a trailer for a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game called Sea Of Dawn from Changyou, the Chinese company behind the hit free-to-play MMORPG Dragon Oath which, it says has registered 300 million users since it debuted in 2007.

    Sea of Dawn is set during the post-medieval age of European exploration. Players can sail the high seas in warships or as pirates.

    Depp’s character is a fez-wearing former adventurer with an Irish accent named Phillip who is now blind and mostly confined to his home, which is littered with trinkets from his travels.

    The conceit of the clip is that a bill collector (played by Francisco Rodriguez) has come a-calling and, instead of barring the door, Phillip invites him in and employs a bit of shock and awe. He overwhelms and misdirects the visitor by feeling his face, giving him a tour of the relics strewn about the chamber, asking him suddenly, “Do you happen to play the flute, boy?” and then accidentally lighting his own beard on fire. It’s a classic Depp caricature.

    (Video) “If there’s an opportunity for humor, I’m going to grab it,” the actor explains of the face-feeling in a making-of featurette. “I want to watch a character who has the proper chutzpah to do things I would never do.”

    (Video) By the end, Depp’s Phillip has entranced his visitor and brought forth in him a thirst for his own seafaring adventures which, of course, is what Sea Of Dawn is all about.

    Pushing the tax collector out the door, Depp’s former swashbuckler says, “Your journey awaits you out there, on the tides.”

    “I Know The Truth”: Kate Moss Reveals Why She Chose To Speak In Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Defamation Case

    (7/24/22) Kate Moss has revealed why she felt moved to defend her former partner Johnny Depp in his defamation lawsuit with ex-wife Amber Heard earlier this year.

    The British supermodel barely gives interviews or talks publicly, but broke her silence to give evidence via video link in the trial, when she denied a rumour heard by Heard’s team that Depp had once pushed Moss down the stairs during their relationship in the 1990s.

    Moss spoke about her participation in the lawsuit on long-running BBC radio interview show Desert Island Discs, in which public figures are asked to choose their seven favourite records, one book, one luxury item, and also to discuss their lives.

    Asked why she had decided to speak out in support of Depp, she replied with reference to the actor and also to her friend fashion designer John Galliano, who was found guilty of antisemitic abuse in 2011:

    “I believe in the truth, and I believe in fairness and justice. I know that John Galliano is not a bad person – he had an alcohol problem and people turn. People aren’t themselves when they drink, and they say things that they would never say if they were sober.

    And she added: “I know the truth about Johnny [Depp]. I know he never kicked me down the stairs. I had to say that truth.”

    Depp, who was in a relationship with Moss between 1994 and 1998, won the lawsuit against his ex wife Heard last month. Both claimants who initially filed suits in the infamous case, have now launched appeals against the verdict, which largely favoured Depp.

    Johnny Depp Quickly Counters Amber Heard’s Appeal Of Verdict With One Of His Own

    (7/22/22) Less than a day after Amber Heard gave formal notice of her intent to appeal the verdict in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against her, the Aquaman star’s ex-husband has launched his own countermove.

    In paperwork filed this morning in Fairfax County, the former Pirates of the Caribbean actor has put his legal players on the board. “Plaintiff and Counterclaim-Defendant John C. Depp, II, by counsel, hereby appeals to the Court of Appeals of Virginia from all adverse rulings and from the final judgment order of this Circuit Court entered on June 24, 2022,” said the four-page notice of appeal (read it here).

    A legal tactic right now, Depp’s appeal is as much in pure response to Heard’s appeal of July 21 as it is an effort to try to claw back the $2 million award that the Virginia jury gave Heard in her $100 million countersuit against Depp and his 2019 $50 million complaint.

    On June 1, after. six-week long and often explicit and bitter proceedings, the seven-person panel handed a near total win to Depp with damages of approximately $15 million. That award was carved down to about $10.3 million by Judge Penny Azcarate under the cap put on punitive damages by the statutes of the Old Dominion.

    “This was an overwhelmingly positive verdict for Mr. Depp,” a source close to the Jeff Beck sideman’s camp told Deadline Friday, less than 24 hours after Heard filed her long expected paperwork.

    “The verdict speaks for itself, and Mr. Depp believes that this is a time for both parties to move on with their lives and heal,” the source added. “But if Ms. Heard is determined to pursue further litigation by appealing the verdict, Mr. Depp is filing a concurrent appeal to ensure that the full record and all relevant legal issues are considered by the Court of Appeal.”

    Reps for Heard did not respond to request for comment Friday on Depp’s appeal notice

    This checkmate of sorts today is just the latest legal interaction between the Rum Diary co-stars since their short-lived marriage collapsed in 2016 amidst allegations of abuse, a temporary restraining order against Depp, and a media feeding frenzy.

    Depp sued his Heard in March 2019 for $50 million over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed she bylined about becoming “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Even though the ACLU-crafted article in the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper never mentioned Depp by name, he claimed it “devastated” his already dimming blockbuster career. Though he said nothing during the couple’s 2016 divorce, on his filings and on the stand in the Virginia trial, Depp has also now insisted he was in fact the one who was abused in the relationship.

    Having failed repeatedly to get the case dismissed or moved out of Virginia before the trial commenced, Heard in countersued for $100 million two years ago That action came months before Depp’s UK libel case against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater” proved unsuccessful.

    At the trial earlier this year, Heard alleged in her testimony under oath that Depp sexual assaulted her on numerous occasions, as well as physically and psychologically abusing her during their relationship. A claim the actor vehemently denied in his own testimony afterwards.

    Fast and furious on so many levels, Depp’s notice of appeal and Heard’s from Thursday come just over a week after Azcarate dismissed an ambitious attempt by the latter’s Elaine Bredehoft-led team to throw the $10.3 million award and verdict in Depp’s favor and get a whole new trial. Depp’s Brown Rudnick lawyers called the effort “baseless” and “frivolous.”

    Even though they cited the fact that it seems the wrong person was seated on the jury, Heard’s attorneys were soundly rebuffed by Azcarate on July 13. “The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict,” said the Fairfax County judge , who presided over the sometime circus-like trial that started in mid-April. “The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury.”

    Amber Heard Launches Official Appeal Of Johnny Depp Trial Verdict; ‘Pirates’ Star “Confident” In Outcome

    (7/21/22) The court battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard looks to be heating up again.

    Close to two months after a Virginia jury handed the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star a big win in his multimillion-dollar defamation trial against his ex-wife and Rum Diary co-star, Heard on Thursday officially informed the court that she plans to appeal the verdict.

    “Please take notice that Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff Amber Laura Heard, pursuant to Rule 5:9 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, hereby gives Notice of her Appeal to the Virginia Court of Appeals from this Court’s June 24, 2022 Final Judgment Order, the July 13, 2022 Order on Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff Amber Laura Beard’s Post-Trial Motions (“Post-Trial Motions Order”), and from all additional Orders and rulings by the Trial Court prior to the entry of the Final Judgment Order and Post-Trial Motions Order,” said the three-page filing in the Old Dominion (read it here).

    At this point, Heard has not paid the $8.3 million bond required under Virginia law for her to conduct an appeal, as Judge Penney Azcarate curtly informed the actress’ legal team on June 24. While that fee will be required down the line, Heard only had to put up only $500 to begin the appeal process today.

    Heard’s team has until September 4 to file their appeal.

    In that vein, soon after the document from Heard head lawyer Elaine Bredehoft was placed in the court docket today, the Aquaman star’s PR team put out a supplementary statement.

    “We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment,” a spokesperson for Heard told Deadline. “We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”

    In the rules of the PR game that have been played almost since the moment Depp sued Heard for $50 million in March 2019 over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed the latter penned on domestic abuse, reps for Depp had their own statement at the ready.

    “The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp, in multiple instances,” a Depp spokesperson said this morning. “We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand.”

    Today’s notice of appeal comes just days after Azcarate dismissed an ambitious attempt by Heard’s team to toss out the $10.3 million award and verdict in Depp’s favor and get a new trial. Depp’s Brown Rudnick lawyers called the effort “baseless” and “frivolous.”

    Leaning into an example of the wrong person being seated on the seven-person jury, Heard’s lawyers came up short on July 13. “The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict,” said Fairfax County Judge Azcarate, who presided over the six-week trial that started in mid-April. “The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury.”

    On June 1, an absent Depp was awarded $15 million in damages by the jury in his defamation case. That sum was almost immediately reduced to $10.35 million by Azcarate in accordance with the state of Virginia’s punitive damages limitations. While the jury found almost entirely for Depp in their verdict, they also oddly awarded Heard $2 million in damages out of her $100 million countersuit.

    Today’s notice of appeal doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as Bredehoft has said in court and in the media almost from the moment the verdict came down that her “heartbroken” client was going to take another kick at the judicial can.

    Johnny Depp Reaches Settlement In ‘City Of Lies’ Assault Case Ahead Of LA Trial Start

    (7/11/22) Johnny Depp may find himself facing off again with Amber Heard in Virginia in the ex-couple’s big-bucks defamation battle, but he seems to have put an end to the assault and battery case about to go to trial in the City of Angels.

    Two weeks to the day before the scheduled start of the trial brought against Depp by former City of Lies location manager Gregg “Rocky” Brooks in 2018, the parties have come to a deal, it was revealed Monday. In a filing in Los Angeles Superior Court, Brooks’ lawyer Arbella Azizian said a settlement had been reached, kind of.

    No terms were made public, and the whole shabang could still be scuttled as can always happen up to the last minute in these things. However, after weeks of behind-the-scenes talks between the sides, it looks like Depp is paying off Brooks to go away and have another lawsuit disappear — much like he did with his ex-business managers in 2018.

    “The settlement agreement conditions dismissal of this matter on the satisfactory completion of specified terms that are not to be performed within 45 days of the date of the settlement,” reads the notice of settlement in the docket. “A request for dismissal will be filed no later than 1/5/2023.”

    “Dismissal After Settlement is scheduled for 02/16/2023,” added a minute order from Judge Holly J. Fujie this morning.

    Coming almost two months after the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean actor was awarded more than $10 million in damages by a Virginia jury in his long-running defamation case against Heard over a Washington Post op-end she penned about being “the public face of domestic abuse,” a trial with Brooks had potential train wreck spray painted all over it for Depp. Literally and figuratively a one-two punch against the former Oscar nominee, the L.A. trial over a 2017 late-night altercation on the set of the film about the Notorious B.I.G. murder was already projected to create another media frenzy.

    Recently named to partner at Brown Rudnick after her star turn at the Virginia trial, Camille Vasquez was set to make a sequel appearance as one of Depp’s lawyers in the City of Lies trial.

    The suit over the eventually released City of Lies, which co-stars Forest Whitaker and was directed by initial co-defendant Brad Furman, claims an alleged booze-on-the-breath Depp flipped out when Brooks informed him on April 13, 2017 that production had to wrap for the night. Talking to an off-duty LAPD officer on set in the process after being told to deal with Depp by Furman, things went south fast for Brooks when Depp sauntered over. Supposedly screaming obscenities at the location manager, Depp then hit Brooks “twice in the lower left side of his rib cage and causing pain.”

    Bellowing that he would pay Brooks $100,000 to “punch me in the face right now,’ Depp was removed from the scene and set by his personal security team. Asked in the aftermath to pledge not to sue the production for the incident, Brooks refused was pink-slipped on the spot on April 16, 2017.

    Delayed by the pandemic, the case has been pretty dormant in the LASC docket up until last month as the trial date got closer. Now it may all go very quiet if the settlement sticks.

    Reps for both Depp and Brooks did not reply to request for comment from Deadline today on the latest turn of evens in the matter.

    Johnny Depp Ordered to Pay ACLU $38,000 ... Even Though He Won Against Amber

    (7/1/22) So, this is ironic ... Amber Heard lost Johnny Depp's defamation case in no small part because she lied about donating half her divorce settlement to the ACLU ... and now a judge has awarded the ACLU $38,000 ... and guess who has to pay -- NOT AMBER.

    Here's the deal ... Johnny's legal team subpoenaed documents from the ACLU to prove Amber never anted up the cash. According to the ACLU, they had to produce 1900 documents and that took a lot of time. The org asked the judge to order Johnny to pay $86,000 for the time and expenses associated with the document production.

    Johnny's lawyers called BS, saying the tab was "exorbitant and unreasonable." The judge sided with Johnny and cut the bill pretty much in half ... so now Johnny has to pay $38,000.

    As you know, Johnny won the case against Amber, so you might think she'd have to pay the costs that were incurred to reach a verdict ... a verdict squarely against her insofar as Johnny's defamation case is concerned. But, that's not the law, so Johnny has to pay.

    Thing is ... it sounds like Johnny isn't going to take it to the mat and make Amber pay the $8.35M net judgment. So, even though he won, he's left holding the bag with the ACLU.

    So, pretty much ... everyone got screwed.

    Johnny Depp in line for $301M payday to return as Captain Jack in 'Pirates of the Caribbean 6'?

    (6/27/22) Johnny Depp could be getting ready to walk the plank again as Captain Jack Sparrow.

    According to a new report, rumours are swirling that Disney is working with the actor on a “$301 million deal” for a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film and spinoff series. If true, it would be a welcome return to the role that turned Depp, 59, into a global superstar nearly two decades ago following 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

    “Disney is very interested in patching up their relationship with Johnny Depp,” a source told PopTopic. “They are very hopeful that Johnny will forgive them and return as his iconic character.”

    The three-time Oscar nominee was dropped from the franchise in 2018 after his ex Amber Heard wrote an op-ed suggesting she was a victim of domestic abuse.

    Depp played the swashbuckling hero in five films inspired by the popular Disney theme park attraction.

    “What I can tell you is that the studio has already penned up a draft for a film about Jack Sparrow, so they are very hopeful that Johnny will forgive them and return as his iconic character,” the insider added. “The deal is reportedly for Johnny Depp to return in Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and a spinoff Disney+ series about the early life of the Captain of the Black Pearl.”

    But a representative for the actor shot down the report telling NBC News (via E! News), “This is made up.”

    During his six-week long defamation trial, Depp claimed that Heard’s article ruined his reputation and led to a slew of cancelled projects, one of which being a sixth Pirates movie that would have seen the actor pocketing $22.5 million to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow.

    “After the op-ed, it was impossible to get him a studio film,” Depp’s talent manager Jack Whigham said last month.

    Depp’s agent said the actor had a verbal deal in place for Pirates 6, but that in 2019 producers opted to go in a “different direction.” It was later announced that actress Margot Robbie would lead an all-female reboot written by Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson.

    During his testimony, Depp said that he was open to making more Pirates movies and that he wanted to give the character a “proper goodbye.” But he also said he wouldn’t return for “$300 million and a million alpacas” after feeling that the studio had betrayed him.

    The news comes after a former Disney exec told PEOPLE Depp could return. “There is just too much potential box-office treasure for a beloved character deeply embedded in the Disney culture,” the source said.

    Depp sued Heard, 36, for $50 million, accusing her of defaming him with a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

    A Virginia jury ruled in Depp’s favour, awarding him $15 million after they unanimously agreed that Heard defamed him and ruined his career when she published the article. With the amount capped at $10.35 million, the jury also found Depp guilty of defaming her on one count through his former lawyer Adam Waldman. Heard was awarded $2 million.

    In an interview after the verdict, Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft said her client “absolutely” cannot pay the judgement levied against her and will appeal.

    During a much-publicized chat with Savannah Guthrie earlier this month, Heard said she stood by her allegations that Depp abused her during their five-year relationship.

    “To my dying day, I’ll stand by every word of my testimony,” she said. “I made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve always told the truth.”

    On Friday, trial judge Penney Azcarate made the jury’s award official with Heard ordered to pay $10.35 million.

    Heard has said she intends to appeal the ruling.

    But during Friday’s hearing, Azcarate said that if Heard appeals, she must post a bond for the full amount of the $10.35 million award that is subject to 6% interest per year.

    In a statement to the Sun, a rep for Heard referenced the January 6 Committee hearings as they hinted at another looming legal battle. “As stated in yesterday’s congressional hearings, you don’t ask for a pardon if you are innocent,” they wrote in an email. “And, you don’t decline to appeal if you know you are right.”

    Johnny Depp 'trying to settle' lawsuit alleging assault

    (6/26/22) Johnny Depp is reportedly trying to settle an alleged assault case before it goes to court.

    Gregg ‘Rocky’ Brooks filed court documents back in 2018, in which he accused the actor of “maliciously and forcefully” punching him twice in his ribs on the set of ‘City of Lies’ before saying he’d pay the location manager $100,000 to “punch [him] in the face” in April 2017.

    The case is scheduled to go up before the courts next month, but sources told RadarOnline.com that Depp’s legal team have been “deep in negotiations” with the location manager’s team up until late this week in a bid to settle the matter out of court.

    However, a deal has not yet been agreed.

    The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor previously requested the cast be dismissed after alleging he “feared for his safety” and that of director Brad Furman, arguing the alleged assault was in self defence and the “defence of others.”

    In Brooks’ legal documents, the crew member slammed the ‘Lone Ranger’ star over his conduct, alleging he “was intentional and malicious and done for the purpose of causing plaintiff to suffer humiliation.”

    And he claimed Depp’s “intoxication and temper created a hostile, abusive and unsafe work environment,” which eventually resulted in him being assaulted by the actor during filming of the crime thriller when he tried to enforce a permit restriction during a late night of filming.

    Brooks claimed he was eventually fired from the movie when he refused to sign a release waiving his right to sue over the incident.

    His attorney, Arbella Azizian, said in a statement: “My client wants to make sure Mr. Depp is held accountable for his conduct on set so that, in the future, others will not be put in the same situation.”

    When reports of an alleged altercation were first raised earlier this year, Furman defended Depp and praised the actor as a “consummate professional.”

    He said in a statement: “Johnny Depp is a consummate professional, great collaborator and a supporter of other artists. He always treats the crew and people around him with the utmost respect.

    “Movies can be stressful, and nonevents often become exaggerated. We all love stories – there isn’t one here.”

    And Depp himself previously claimed to have made amends with Brooks before the suit was filed.

    He said during a deposition: “I had my assistant bring a bottle of wine. And we toasted in I think paper cups. And, you know, no harm, no foul. I apologized. He apologized. Gave him a hug. We embraced. You know, I hugged him. And everything was cool.

    “As a matter of fact, he asked for a selfie with me. And so I took a selfie with him.”

    Johnny Depp Reuniting with Hollywood Vampires Band ... Here We Come, Europe!!!

    (6/22/22) Johnny Depp is getting the band back together -- prepping for an overseas tour with The Hollywood Vampires -- all in the name of rock and roll.

    Depp and the Vampires -- consisting of Joe Perry, Alice Cooper and Tommy Henriksen -- had previously canceled their tour back in March because of COVID restrictions, saying, "We kept trying to make it happen, but unfortunately due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 travel restrictions, it is just not possible."

    But now, fans in Germany and Luxembourg will get the chance to see Depp and co. back in action ... though there's still a delay -- as the first show isn't until June 2023.

    Of course, JD's been getting some practice in with Jeff Beck, and got a ton of praise for those shows in the U.K.

    The Vampires tour announcement comes just a few weeks after Johnny defeated his ex-wife Amber Heard in court ... and was awarded a net judgment of $8.35 million.

    He's been living like a rock star ever since, and he's keeping that rolling.

    Johnny Depp Slicing Movie Prop Auctions ... 'Scissorhands' Price Doubles!!!

    (6/22/22) Johnny Depp's resurgence in popularity apparently knows no bounds -- even the value of his movie props are skyrocketing in the wake of his trial victory -- including his famous scissor hands.

    The actual insert hand Depp wore in the 1990 hit "Edward Scissorhands" just sold at auction for an incredible $81,250 -- almost twice the price auction experts projected the item would sell for.

    It was in early May when Propstore -- an auction company famous for hawking millions of dollars worth of movie collectibles -- announced a sale that would begin June 21. Among the items were Depp's sharp digits.

    At the time of the sale's announcement, when Johnny and Amber Heard were locked in trial, it was projected the 'Scissorhands' would sell for somewhere between $30k-$50k.

    However, our auction sources say the interest in the trial, specifically Depp's victory, helped to drive the price up -- leading to Tuesday's live auction, where they ultimately went for $81,250!!!

    It's not the only hot Depp item on the market. TMZ broke the story, Johnny's motorcycle from 'Cry Baby' is also set to hit the auction block soon ... starting bid for that one comes in at $250,000.

    While the 'Scissorhands' are gone, Propstore still has its auction happening through the end of this week.

    Some of the other items already sold include Thor's Hammer ($162,500) and Tom Hank's 'Wilson' from "Castaway" which went for an astounding $187,500.

    JEFF BECK And JOHNNY DEPP Release Visualizer For Cover Of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND's 'Venus In Furs'

    (6/18/22) Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp will release a collabortive album, "18", on July 15. A visualizer for their cover of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND's "Venus In Furs", which is featured on the LP, can be seen here.

    JOHNNY DEPP And JEFF BECK Announce Collaborative Album '18', Share First Single

    (6/9/22) (Listen) Jeff Beck found a kindred spirit in Johnny Depp when the two met in 2016. They bonded quickly over cars and guitars and spent most of their time together trying to make each other laugh. At the same time, Beck's appreciation grew for Depp's serious songwriting skills and his ear for music. That talent and their chemistry convinced Beck they should make an album together.

    Depp agreed and they started in 2019. Over the next three years, they recorded a mix of Depp originals along with a wide range of covers that touches on everything from Celtic and Motown, to the BEACH BOYS and KILLING JOKE. In 2020, during the pandemic, they previewed their collaboration with their well-timed cover of John Lennon's "Isolation".

    The duo's 13-track album, dubbed "18", will arrive on July 15. Beck explains the album title: "When Johnny and I started playing together, it really ignited our youthful spirit and creativity. We would joke about how we felt 18 again, so that just became the album title too."

    "18" will be available on CD and digitally, with a 180-gram black vinyl version coming on September 30. The cover features an illustration of Beck and Depp as 18-year-olds that was drawn and designed by Beck's wife Sandra. All formats are available for pre-save/pre-add.

    Leading up to the release of "18", Beck has launched a European tour, with Depp as special guest, which will conclude on July 25 at L'Olympia in Paris.

    For the last 12 years, Depp has recorded and toured with the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, a band he started with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry. The supergroup has released two studio albums that include guest appearances by some of rocks biggest names: Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh. The list also includes Beck, who played guitar on "Welcome To Bushwackers", a song on "Rise", the VAMPIRES' second album, which came out in 2019.

    Soon after, Depp asked Beck to play lead on a tune he'd written, the album's first single "This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr", an homage to the actress/inventor. Beck says it was the catalyst for the collaboration and is one of his favorite songs on the new album. "I was blown away by it," he says. "That song is one of the reasons I asked him to make an album with me." The track is available today digitally, along with an accompanying music video. Watch it below.

    Of Beck, Depp adds, "It's an extraordinary honor to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I am now privileged enough to call my brother."

    In the studio, Beck says he and Depp challenged each other to leave their comfort zones with the songs they chose to cover. "I haven't had another creative partner like him for ages," Beck says. "He was a major force on this record. I just hope people will take him seriously as a musician because it's a hard thing for some people to accept that Johnny Depp can sing rock and roll."

    Depp justifies Beck's faith on the new album by showing off his incredible emotional range on songs like THE VELVET UNDERGROUND's "Venus In Furs", THE EVERLY BROTHERS' ballad "Let It Be Me" and Marvin Gaye's soul classic "What's Going On". On the instrumentals, Beck demonstrates why he's universally revered as a guitar god with stunning versions of Davy Spillane's "Midnight Walker" and two songs from the BEACH BOYS' masterpiece "Pet Sounds" — "Caroline, No" and "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)".

    "18" track listing

    01. Midnight Walker (Davy Spillane cover)
    02. Death And Resurrection Show (KILLING JOKE cover)
    03. Time (Dennis Wilson cover)
    04. Sad Motherfuckin' Parade (Johnny Depp original)
    05. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) (BEACH BOYS cover)
    06. This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr (Johnny Depp original)
    07. Caroline, No (BEACH BOYS cover)
    08. Ooo Baby Baby (THE MIRACLES cover)
    09. What's Going On (Marvin Gaye cover)
    10. Venus In Furs (THE VELVET UNDERGROUND cover)
    11. Let It Be Me (THE EVERLY BROTHERS cover)
    12. Stars (Janis Ian cover)
    13. Isolation (John Lennon cover)*

    * Available on digital and CD version only.

    ‘Boston George’ Drug Smuggler Docuseries Featuring Johnny Depp Sets Launch Date, WATCH Trailer & Behind The Scenes Clip Of Depp

    (6/8/22) (Video) Long-in-the-works docuseries Boston George, about drug trafficker and smuggler George Jacob Jung, is set to premiere on streaming service Fandor on July 22.

    The five-part series features a decent chunk of interviews with Johnny Depp, who portrayed the late Jung in 2001 film Blow. This will be the first new film or TV content featuring Depp to be released since his lengthy U.S trial against former wife Amber Heard.

    Described by Depp as “one of my favorite people instantly” and as “a very charming outlaw”, Boston George explores Jung’s life of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll and lawbreaking. Acquaintances from all walks of life reunite with Jung — who filmed the series before he passed away last year — to tell the narrative, including Depp, author Bruce Porter, partner Ronda Clay Spinello, friend Waino “Tuna” Tuominen (portrayed by Ethan Suplee in Blow) and former undercover DEA agent Tom Tinnerington and DEA Special Agent Mike McManus, responsible for Jung’s bust.

    Above is a new trailer for the series and below is a behind-the-scenes clip in which Depp gifts Jung a cell phone so they can stay in touch (joking that he’ll send Jung “the weirdest photographs”).

    Following its premiere, Fandor plans to drop one episode per week each Friday. Cinedigm will make each episode available on TVOD the day after it premieres.

    Jung, nicknamed Boston George and El Americano, was a major figure in the cocaine trade in the U.S. in the 1970s and early 1980s. He and his partner Carlos Leader smuggled cocaine into the U.S. for the Colombian Medellin Cartel. He was sentenced to 70 years in prison in 1994 on conspiracy charges, but was released in 2014.

    His story was recounted in Bruce Porter’s New York Times bestseller Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All.

    Work began on the series a few years ago but Jung’s passing in 2021 and the pandemic slowed progress.

    (Video) Said Boston George producer Georgette Angelos: “Our time spent with George was so impactful, not only as filmmakers, but as individuals. An everlasting impression we came to realize throughout the interview process was a theme for anyone who crossed George’s path. I know the audience will feel the same way after they watch the series. It was an honor to have been a part of this project, and to watch it all come to fruition, telling the whole story of the last true outlaw.”

    “As a longtime fan of the movie Blow, it was an amazing opportunity to sit down with Boston George and hear these memories firsthand,” added producer Chris Chesson. “This series will give the audience a real feel of what it was like for George from both the past and present parts of his life that are now vastly different. He left a lasting impression on everyone he met including me and I’m lucky to have been able to call George Jung a friend.”

    “Boston George was the ultimate cult icon, as famous as he was infamous,” commented Erick Opeka, President & Chief Strategy Officer at Cinedigm. “Georgette and Chris have masterfully given Boston George fans an up-close-and-personal and uncensored look at the years following Blow and George’s release from prison and we couldn’t be more excited to present George’s story to audiences.”

    Johnny Depp To Make New Album With Rock Star Pal Jeff Beck After Court Victory

    (6/3/22) Johnny Depp made a swift return to professional public life following his victory in his defamation lawsuit, with a spirited musical turn on stage in Gateshead, UK.

    The actor joined guitarist Jeff Beck for eight songs on Thursday evening, one night after the pair were spotted celebrating Depp’s legal win in a Newcastle pub, along with fellow musician Sam Fender.

    While Depp did not reference his legal battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard during the concert, Beck was heard exclaiming, “What a result.”

    And the revered musician and former Yardbirds star revealed Depp’s next career move, with news that the pair will release an album together next month. They previously collaborated on a cover of John Lennon’s song ‘Isolation’.

    The British guitarist told the crowd: “I met this guy five years ago and we’ve never stopped laughing since. We actually made an album. I don’t know how it happened. It will be out in July.”

    Depp had released a statement following the verdict in the Virginia courtroom, saying he was pleased to have his life back and was looking forward to “a new chapter.”

    Judging by his actions, his fans’ reception at the concert and the long queue outside for autographs and photographs, that chapter has seemingly swiftly begun.

    Amber Heard Wants To Appeal Jury Decision In Favor Of Johnny Depp, Her Attorney Tells ‘Today’: “She Has Some Excellent Grounds For It”

    (6/2/22) Amber Heard’s attorney said Thursday on NBC’s Today that her client “absolutely” wants to appeal a Virginia jury’s decision that found the actress liable for defaming Johnny Depp in her Washington Post op-ed claiming domestic abuse.

    “She has some excellent grounds for it,” Elaine Bredehoft told Savannah Guthrie.

    In the interview, Bredehoft blamed a number of factors for Heard’s loss, citing evidentiary decisions as well as the influence of social media.

    “She was demonized here,” Bredehoft said. “A number of things were allowed in this court that should not have been allowed, and it caused the jury to be confused.” She cited the different outcome in the UK, where a court ruled against Depp after he sought a judgment against The Sun for referring to him as a “wife beater.”

    She said that Heard’s side was allowed to tell the jury “about the UK judgment. So the damages is completely skewed. There are no damages. It stopped at November 2, 2020, which is when the judgment came down in the UK.”

    The Virginia jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Judge Penney Azcarate quickly reduced the punitive damages to the maximum allowed, $350,000.

    Asked if Heard can afford to pay nearly $10.4 million, Bredehoft said, “Oh no. Absolutely not.” The jury also awarded Heard $2 million in damages for one of her claims, made by Depp’s attorneys, that she and her friends staged the scene of one of the couple’s arguments at their downtown Los Angeles penthouse and that the actresses’ allegations were a “hoax.”

    Bredehoft said that one of the first things that Heard said after the verdict was, “I am so sorry to all those women out there. This is a setback for all women in and outside the courtroom, and she feels the burden of that.”

    She added, “Really what happened here is a tale of two trials.” She said that they were not allowed to tell the jury that the UK court “found that Mr. Depp had committed at least 12 acts of domestic violence, including sexual violence, against Amber. So what did Depp’s team learn from this? Demonize Amber and suppress the evidence. We had an enormous amount of evidence that was suppressed in this case that was in the UK case.”

    She said that Depp’s team was “able to suppress the medical records, which were very, very significant because they showed a pattern … going all the way back to 2012 of Amber reporting this to her therapist, for example. We had [a] significant amount of texts, including from Mr. Depp’s assistants, saying, ‘When I told him he kicked you, he cried. He is so sorry. That didn’t come in.”

    Bredehoft also suggested that it was likely that jurors, who were told not to look at media coverage of the trial, were aware of what was happening on social media, where sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of Depp.

    “They went home every night. They have families. The families are on social media. We had a 10 day break in the middle because of a Judicial Conference. There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it, and it was horrible. It really, really was lopsided. …It was like the Roman Colosseum, how they view this whole case.” Bredehoft also noted that she was opposed to allowing cameras in the courtroom, which she said made the trial “a zoo.”

    Bredehoft said that she believes that the jury verdict for Depp sends “a horrible message… It’s a significant setback because that is exactly what it means. Unless you pull out your phone and you video your spouse or your significant other beating you, effectively, you won’t be believed.”

    The Post, meanwhile, added an editor’s note to the online version of the op ed, noting the jury’s verdict in the case. The publication was not a defendant in the case.

    Johnny Depp After Verdict In Amber Heard Trial: “Jury Gave Me My Life Back”

    (6/1/22) Johnny Depp released a statement minutes after the verdicts were read in his $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

    Via his spokesperson, the former Pirates of the Caribbean star said:

    Six years ago, my life, the life of my children, the lives of those closest to me, and also, the lives of the people who for many, many years have supported and believed in me were forever changed.

    All in the blink of an eye.

    False, very serious and criminal allegations were levied at me via the media, which triggered an endless barrage of hateful content, although no charges were ever brought against me. It had already traveled around the world twice within a nanosecond and it had a seismic impact on my life and my career.

    And six years later, the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled.

    Amber Heard Says She Is “Heartbroken” By Verdict In Favor Of Johnny Depp: “The Disappointment I Feel Today Is Beyond Words”

    My decision to pursue this case, knowing very well the height of the legal hurdles that I would be facing and the inevitable, worldwide spectacle into my life, was only made after considerable thought.

    From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome. Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that.

    I am, and have been, overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and the colossal support and kindness from around the world. I hope that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up. I also hope that the position will now return to innocent until proven guilty, both within the courts and in the media.

    I wish to acknowledge the noble work of the Judge, the jurors, the court staff and the Sheriffs who have sacrificed their own time to get to this point, and to my diligent and unwavering legal team who did an extraordinary job in helping me to share the truth. The best is yet to come and a new chapter has finally begun.

    Veritas numquam perit.

    Truth never perishes.

    Amber Heard Says She Is “Heartbroken” By Verdict In Favor Of Johnny Depp: “The Disappointment I Feel Today Is Beyond Words”

    (6/1/22) Amber Heard said that the “disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” in her first public reaction to a jury’s verdict finding her liable for defaming ex-husband Johnny Depp in an op ed in The Washington Post.

    Heard left the courtroom after the verdict was read, with her attorneys following behind. She stared down as the verdicts were read, but did look at the jurors as they were polled afterward.

    “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband,” Heard said in the statement.

    “I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.

    “I believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK.

    “I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American – to speak freely and openly.”

    The jury did find in Heard’s favor in one of her counterclaims.

    Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard; Jury Verdict Comes After Three Days Of Deliberation By Jury

    (6/1/22) Johnny Depp has won his defamation trial against Amber Heard, a Virginia jury decided today.

    After less than three days of deliberation, the seven-person panel has just issued a verdict to the packed courtroom that the Aquaman star did defame with actual malice the former Pirates of the Caribbean actor in a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed Heard penned about becoming the “public face of domestic abuse.”

    Depp was seeking $50 million in damages, but the jury has awarded him $15 million — $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. But Judge Penney Azacarate quickly reduced the punitive damages figure to $350,000, the maximum allowed in the state.

    The jury did find for Heard in one of her claims, awarding her $2 million in compensatory damages and no punitive damages. In her $100 million countersuit, Heard claimed that she was defamed by comments made by Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman. The jury rejected all but one of her claims — that Waldman’s claim that Heard and her friends “set” up Depp with “an ambush, a hoax.”

    Having been in the UK touring with pal Jeff Beck up until last night, Hollywood Vampires guitarist Depp was not in the courtroom Wednesday when the verdict was read out. Representatives for the actor said earlier today he would be watching from Britain when the verdict in the civil case was read out. Alongside her lawyers, Heard was in the Fairfax County Courthouse before the jurors and Judge Penny Azcarte.

    Before the verdict was read out, the judge had attorneys from both sides approach to discuss the lack of damages of the verdict. The jury were sent out of the courtroom to put in a figure of at least $1 dollar, the judge instructed them. – which means at that point the lawyers and Heard knew who had won.

    The ACLU drafted article three and a half years ago in the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet never mentioned Depp by name, but the actor insisted it was about him. Depp also said that the 2018 op-ed “devastated” his already waning career. The past Oscar nominee additionally declared that in fact he was the one abused in the relationship with Heard, not the other way round.

    Noteworthy, besides the fact that the couple’s 2016 divorce agreement forbid the actor from suing Heard over allegations she made back then, Depp never included the deep pocketed WaPo as a defendant, even though part of his public logic for filing in Virginia is that the paper publishes in the state. Repeatedly unsuccessful in getting the March 2019 filed lawsuit dismissed or moved out to another jurisdiction, Heard countersued Depp in the summer of 2020 for $100 million. The countersuit was based on comments her ex-husband’s former lawyer and right-hand man Adam Waldman made calling Heard’s claims of abuse, among other things, a “hoax” and “fake.” That action came months before Depp’s UK libel case against the Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater” failed dramatically in November 2020. The actor failed last year to get an appeal in the UK libel suit.

    Both Depp’s 2019 suit & Heard’s 2020 countersuit were before the jury. Having queried retired Marine Judge Azcarte-led court yesterday over the headline that initially accompanied the WaPo op-ed, the jurors formally began their deliberations on May 27 after closing arguments were presented.

    With Heard’s team finally focusing in the last hours on the fairly basic First Amendment heart of the case, today’s verdict somewhat reveals how big a deal the Free Speech issue was to the jury.

    Starting on April 12, after jury selection, the explicit trial quickly became a second divorce proceeding for the couple, who were actually divorced in LA in 2016 in a temporary restraining order tinged matter. Buried in part under the deeply disputed claims of physical, psychological, verbal and sexual abuse against the fired Fantastic Beasts actor, the.actual defamation claim and its First Amendment ethos hat made up Depp’s 2019 lawsuit against his ex-wife and Run Diary co-star,” seemed often secondary or almost neglected amidst the lurid torrent of the duo’s relationship revelations.

    It is unclear right now if Heard plans to appeal the verdict or seek other forms of legal redress. What is clear is that under an order from Azacarate, the names of the jurors will not be released by the state of Virginia for at least a year. Whether or not those jurors want to reveal themselves or speak publicly, that’s up to them under the First Amendment.

    Jurors In Johnny Depp Defamation Trial Pose Question About Headline In Amber Heard’s Op Ed

    (5/31/22) In their first full day of deliberations in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard, jurors posted a question to the judge Tuesday over how they should weigh the headline in Heard’s Washington Post op-ed.

    The headline for the online version of the December, 2018 piece read, “I Spoke Up Against Sexual Violence — And Faced Our Culture’s Wrath. That Has To Change.”

    Judge Penney Azcarate said that the jurors were wondering if they should consider whether the headline was defamatory or whether that should be connected to the “the content of the statement, everything in the op-ed.”

    “I think the confusion came in this particular one because the statement in question is the title of the op-ed, so I think they are confused as to whether it is the whole op-ed or the title is the statement,” she said. “It is clear that the title is the statement.”

    On the jury verdict forms, the headline is one of three statements that the jury has to weigh in determining whether to rule for Depp. The seven jurors also have to decide whether statements in the content of the op-ed are defamatory. One of the statements is, “Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” The other statement is, “I had the vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.”

    Heard’s legal team has noted that Depp is not mentioned in the op-ed or the headline, but his legal team has argued that it was clear to readers who his ex-wife was referring to in the piece.

    While the content of Heard’s piece only referred to domestic abuse, and did not specify whether it was physical or emotional, the headline went a step further in its claim of sexual violence.

    During the trial, Heard claimed that Depp sexually assaulted her during an argument in March 2016, but Depp’s legal team spent considerable time trying to undermine that claim.

    And while her legal team has noted that she did not write the headline to the op-ed — an editor at the Post did — Depp’s side has focused on the fact that she tweeted out the article without disputing its title.

    Heard also has countersued for $100 million, and the jury is deliberating on her claims that she was defamed in three difference instances, including in remarks made by Depp’s attorney.

    Johnny Depp’s Attorney Tells Jury: “What You Have In The End Is Miss Heard’s Word — Do You Trust It?”

    (5/27/22) SECOND UPDATE: Johnny Depp’s attorney wrapped up their final arguments by focusing in part on Amber Heard’s $100 million counterclaim.

    Camille Vasquez told jurors that in suing Depp for defamation, Heard has to “prove that her abuse claims are not a hoax.”

    Heard’s counterclaim centers on statements made by Adam Waldman, who said in statements made to the Daily Mail that Heard’s allegations of abuse were falsified.

    Vasquez said that there is “clear evidence that Waldman believed that Heard committed a hoax.” Depp’s attorney also tried to undermine Heard’s argument that Waldman’s statements caused her reputational harm, arguing that her negative press coverage had nothing to do with the remarks.

    She also challenged Heard’s claims for damages, noting the testimony of Warner Bros. executive Walter Hamada, who said that the actress’ paycheck was not reduced for Aquaman 2 even though her role was reduced.

    “What you have in the end is Miss Heard’s word — do you trust it?” Vasquez said.

    Vasquez also disputed Heard’s attorney Ben Rottenborn in his contention that the jury merely needed to believe one instance of domestic abuse to reject Depp’s defamation case.

    “Either she is telling the truth, including in her most extreme allegations, or she is lying,” she said. Vasquez argued that in her Washington Post op ed, Heard was alleging physical and sexual abuse by Depp, not mere emotional abuse.

    She also addressed Depp’s text messages, some of which used graphic, violent language about Heard. Her legal team brought those up multiple times during the trial. In one message to Paul Bettany, Depp wrote, “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead.”

    Vasquez argued that the messages reflected Depp’s “unique style of writing,” modeled on Hunter S. Thompson.

    Acknowledging that the style is not “everyone’s cup of tea,” Vasquez said, “Using bad language…does not make you an abuser.”

    UPDATE: Johnny Depp’s attorney told jurors that Amber Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse don’t make sense given that the actor has not been accused by any other woman of physical assault.

    “Before Amber Heard, no women ever … claimed Mr. Depp raised a hand to her in his 58 years,” attorney Benjamin Chew told jurors, also noting that no woman since Heard has raised allegations.

    “This is MeToo without any MeToo.”

    He said that Depp supported the MeToo movement, but argued that the movement was for “true survivors of abuse.”

    “Mr. Depp was canceled because Miss Heard falsely accused him of domestic violence,” Chew said.

    In his argument, Chew also said that Depp “is no saint.” “He owns his flaws he admits to them, but he is not a violent abuser,” he said.

    Depp admitted to drug addiction, but Chew said “there is a world of difference between having substance abuse problems and being a physical abuser.”

    Earlier in the Depp team’s closing argument, another of Depp’s attorneys, Camille Vasquez, made the case that it is the actor, not Amber Heard, who was the victim of “persistent verbal, emotional and physical abuse.”

    “There is a victim of domestic abuse in this courtroom, and it is not Miss Heard,” Vasquez told the jury.

    Vasquez noted that Friday marked six years since Heard went to court to obtain a domestic violence restraining order against Depp, following an argument at their downtown Los Angeles penthouse.

    But Vasquez called the scene at the courthouse “a set up,” claiming that Heard orchestrated press coverage to ensure that photographers would be there to take shots of her bruised face. She claimed that Depp struck her with a phone. But Vasquez suggested that Heard staged her injuries, and that “the world only saw what she wanted them to see.”

    “Exactly six years later, we ask you to give Mr. Depp his life back,” Vasquez said.

    When Heard filed for divorce that same month six years ago, Vasquez said, she didn’t want just the dissolution of their marriage, “She wanted to ruin him.”

    Vasquez replayed audio clips of Heard during arguments with Depp, in which she is heard laughing and seemingly taunting her husband.

    Vasquez said that “it is Miss Heard that repeatedly admits to violence,” she said, referring to an audio recording in which Heard talked of striking Depp. By contrast, Vasquez said, Depp never admitted to any physical violence against Heard.

    Depp sued Heard for $50 million over a December, 2018, op ed in the Washington Post in which she wrote that “two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” Heard countersued for $100 million over claims that she made up her abuse allegations.

    Before the oral arguments began, Judge Penney Azcarate instructed the jury on the process for reaching a verdict, reflecting the high bar that each side has for proving their case. In Depp’s case, the jury has to consider three statements Heard made in the Washington Post op ed and, in each instance whether they his side has proven seven elements. They include whether the statements refer to Depp, whether they are defamatory, whether they are false, and whether they show actual malice.

    Heard faces a similar burden of proof, and the jury has to decide whether her attorneys have proven five different elements. They will consider three different statements, including those made by Adam Waldman, claiming that Heard’s abuse claims were a hoax. They also have to determine whether Waldman was acting as an agent for Depp.

    Depp and Heard were each present in the courtroom for the closing arguments.

    Chew said that the Washington Post op ed was clearly about Depp. and that Heard was “trading on her accusations of abuse” against him for a new role as an ACLU ambassador on domestic violence. He said that the op ed’s impact had a clear impact on Depp’s reputation, citing USA Today coverage of the essay that referred to Heard’s earlier allegations against him.”

    Vasquez cast Heard as a manipulative figure and cited testimony on the actress’ emotional and mental state. She called Heard a “deeply troubled person” who craved attention.

    Vasquez even suggested that when Heard was on the witness stand, she faked some of her most emotional moments, contending that even when the actress was crying, there were no tears. Vasquez cited testimony from an acting coach who said Heard had difficulty faking such fill outbursts.

    “It was a performance,” Vasquez said of Heard’s testimony.

    Vasquez noted that there were no medical records of Heard’s allegations of physical abuse.

    Vasquez ran through what she characterized as inconsistencies in Heard’s claims, running through her specific allegations of abuse. She showed the jury photos of Heard, looking happy and jovial, taken on Dec. 15, 2015, when she appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Heard claimed that, just before that appearance, she had been physically abused by Depp, who struck her and pulled out a clump of her hair. “Are [the Corden photos] consistent with the brutal assault and serious injuries that Miss Heard testified to?” Vasquez asked the jury.

    She also showed side-by-side photos of Heard taken on May 21, 2016. That was the night that Depp and Heard had the argument that ultimately led to the end of their marriage. One of the photos showed Heard with redness on her face, which she said was due to Depp’s striking her with a phone. The other didn’t show the redness. Vasquez challenged Heard’s claim that they were two separate photos — the different being that a light was turned on in one — by noting that they “were taken at the exact same time and have the same filing.”

    “These photos are not to be trusted,” she said.

    Vasquez said that what Heard’s side showed was a “mountain of unproven allegations.”

    “Either she is a victim of truly horrible abuse or she is a woman who is willing to say absolutely anything,” she said.

    Amber Heard’s Lawyer Asks Jury To “Stand Up For Freedom Of Speech” In Final Words In Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Trial Against Ex-Wife; Deliberations Begin

    (5/27/22) UPDATE, 11:58 AM PT: “We ask ladies and gentlemen, that you hold Mr. Depp accountable for his actions,” Amber Heard’s lawyer Ben Rottenborn exclaimed today in the final moments of Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against his ex-wife. “Stand up for victims of domestic abuse everyone. Stand up for freedom of speech. Give Amber Heard her life back.”

    With less than ten minutes left in their closing statement allotment, Heard’s defense team went for the constitutional juggler with the very last word in the lurid case that has captivated America and the world over the past nearly two months.

    “It’s simple, if you believe that Depp was abusive to Amber one time ..then your job is very easy,” Rottenborn said to the jury in the Virginia courtroom. “ You can not only deny Mr. Depp’s claim, but affirm Amber’s counterclaim.

    Directly following Heard being repeatedly called a “liar” and playing “the role of her life” and Depp’s vile communications being swept under the rug as “a dark, ugly humor,” in the plaintiff’s rebuttal from attorney Camille Vasquez, the defense’s last stand was the definition of short and sharp, as it had to be to have any impact.

    Spilling over six weeks in a Virginia courtroom, this widely covered trial all stems from Depp’s March 2019 lawsuit against Heard over the late 2018 Washington Post op-ed she penned. In that piece for the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet, Heard called herself “a public figure representing domestic abuse” and detailed the blast radius that she and other women face.

    While he said nothing to this effect during the couple’s 2016 restraining order-filled divorce, Depp has insisted over the last three years that he never abused Heard. The fired Fantastic Beasts actor actually claims that he was the victim of abuse in the relationship Proving unsuccessful in getting the lawsuit dismissed, Heard filed a $100 million countersuit in the summer of 2020. That countersuit came just a few months before Depp proved unsuccessful in his UK libel suit against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater.

    Casting off from the closing arguments and final instructions from Judge Penny Azcarte after six weeks of trial, the seven-person jury now goes into deliberation on the defamation case. Check out the jury form they will take with them as a guide here. Even though Depp’s Brown Ruddick legal team provided the sharpest POV for most of the trial, Heard’s defense went hard for the First Amendment in their closing. Perhaps too little, too late amidst the lurid accusations of physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse and parade of less than stellar witnesses that have dominated the trial since its April 11 start, the power of the defense’s 11th hour pivot now rests with the jury.

    Of course, this will not end regardless if Depp triumphs in his defamation case or Heard wins with her $100 million counterclaim. Outside the Fairfax County Courthouse, the reputations of both parties are in tatters. Inside the court system, you can almost bet the Black Pearl there’ll be an appeal. For the record, Depp has unsuccessfully attempted to mount an appeal in his loss in his 2020 UK libel suit against the Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun.

    Now we wait.

    PREVIOUSLY, 9:24 AM PT: “This whole case is about blaming Amber Heard for things she didn’t do,” the Aquaman star’s lawyer told a Virginia courtroom today in closing arguments in the $50 million defamation trial from Johnny Depp against his former wife.

    “But that’s what Mr. Depp does, that’s what he’s always done,” started attorney Ben Rottenborn for the defense to the jury and Judge Penney Azcarate on Friday. “Blame other people, refuse to take accountability. But the problem for him here is he’s running head long into the United States Constitution.”

    How To Watch The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Livestream Link & Trial Schedule

    “Most of what you have heard in this trial, you do not need to make a decision on,” a mainly measured Rottenborn asserted after six weeks of “heinous abuse” claims and highly explicated testimony” recounted by both Depp and Heard, various staffers, doctors, family members, friends and well paid hangers-on. Rottenborn termed the whole case and trial as “victim blaming at its most disgusting” on the part of the Depp and his Brown Ruddick lawyers.

    Having stumbled into various traps by Depp’s team and seemingly losing the plot over and over, Heard’s team today came out with precision on American’s sacred document, finally.

    “Does the First Amendment give Ms. Heard the right to write the words she wrote in this article on December 18, 2018?” Rottenborn asked rhetorically. “Should someone be able to write an article like that in the United States of America without going through Hell?” he went on to say of the focus of the trial.

    “Ladies and gentleman, let me be very clear, if Amber was abused by Mr. Depp even one time, then she wins,” Rottenborn added, calling it “ridiculous” Depp assertion that he never abused his Rum Diary co-star. “They are trying to trick you to believe that Amber has to be perfect to win. Actually, if he fails to prove he didn’t abuse Amber one time, she wins.”

    Depp sued Heard in March 2019 over a December 18, 2018 Washington Post op-ed the actress wrote about becoming “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Though the op-end never mentioned Depp by name, the past Oscar nominee claimed it “devastated” his already waning career. As his attorneys have proclaimed over and over in the April 11 starting trial, Depp also said back in 2019 that he was in fact the one who was abused in the relationship. As was brought up this morning, those claims by Depp are an apparent contradiction to what both sides said publicly in their temporary restraining order filled 2016 divorce.

    Characterizing Depp as vindictive on Friday, Rottenborn said the actor “will do everything he can to destroy your life, destroy your career.”

    “Just because people might read the article and remember that Amber Heard used to be married to Johnny Depp and she accused him of abuse, that doesn’t mean that she designed and intended defamatory implications in writing about herself,” Rottenborn also noted in the opening of the defense’s closing argument, which are expected to last several hours today.

    Having failed to get the case dismissed or moved out of Virginia, Heard in 2020 countersued for $100 million. That countersuit came months before Depp’s UK libel case against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater” proved dramatically unsuccessful in November 2020.

    “This is the real Johnny Depp,” the lawyer said, noting the sexual assault claims and reading out and showing numerous texts from the former Pirates of the Caribbean star to friends like The Avengers’ Paul Bettany and staffers threating death, sexual violence and “global humiliation” against Heard. Audio tapes of self-describing “monster” Depp screaming at Heard that she is a “f*cking c*nt” and a disturbing 2016 video of an enraged Depp smashing up a kitchen bellowing “motherf*cker” were also played for the jury for maximum impact following the scorched Earth closing argument from the plaintiff’s legal team. “That’s abuse,” Rottenborn said, noting Depp’s habit of snickering when such evidence was shown in the Fairfax County Courthouse.

    Briefly listing off all the accusations and dirty laundry that has stunk up most of this circus of a trial, Rottenborn exclaimed “none of that is in the article.” He added: It would be a very different article if she’d written about what she suffered, what she told you about the past six weeks.”

    “The facts are absolute overwhelming of abuse,” Rottenborn reiterated near the end of his presentation, which was momentarily interrupted by an Amber alert going off on numerous courtroom attendee’s phones. “Any damage to Mr. Depp’s career is self-caused.”

    Rottenborn will be succeed in the courtroom by his fellow defense attorney Elaine Bredehoft, who will argue the counterclaims. After that, Depp’s side will have an hour for rebuttal and then Heard’s team will have another hour themselves to address the jury. If all goes to schedule, later this afternoon, the seven-person jury will go behind closed doors to consider their verdict.

    In theory, we could see a verdict today, before the Memorial Day long weekend begins. However, but in all likelihood, deliberations will continue into next week after the holiday.

    Testimony Ends In Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Defamation Trial, Closing Arguments Set For Friday — Update

    (5/26/22) UPDATE: Both sides in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation case have now rested their case, with the jury scheduled to hear closing arguments on Friday morning.

    Judge Penney Azcarate indicated that the jury may begin deliberations on Friday afternoon, but would not return until Tuesday after the holiday weekend.

    Heard was the final witness to testify in the six-week trial, and she delivered an emotional message to jurors.

    “Johnny promised me … he would ruin me, that he would ruin my career,” Heard said, as she looked toward the panel. “He promised global humiliation, you saw those texts.”

    She denied faking her bruises and fabricating photos, as she sought to remind the jury that there were “so many pictures, so much evidence” that is unusual for a case of domestic violence abuse.

    Earlier, Heard faced contentious cross-examination from one of Depp’s attorneys, Camille Vasquez, who ran through a list of witnesses who have countered her claims.

    At one point, Vasquez asked Heard to stop looking at the jury in her answers. At another she claimed that Heard had tipped off TMZ to show up at the courthouse as she obtained a restraining order against Depp in May, 2016.

    Heard denied it.

    “What actual survivor of domestic violence wants that?” Heard said.

    Vasquez also brought up Wednesday’s testimony from Kate Moss, who denied that Depp had pushed her down a flight of stairs when they dated in the 1990s. Heard had referenced a rumor of the incident in earlier testimony, as she was describing what was going through her mind during an argument with Depp. Her sister, Whitney, was nearby and close to a flight of stairs, Heard said, and she feared what Depp would do.

    Heard said that she heard the rumor about Moss “from multiple people,” and the fact that she denied it didn’t matter. “It is what I believed at the time.”

    In some of the most heated moments, Vasquez asked Heard whether she thought a number of witnesses who countered her claims were lying.

    “I know how many people will come out and say whatever for him,” Heard said. “That is his power. That is why I wrote the op ed. I was speaking to that phenomenon. How many people will come out in support to him and fall to his power. He is a very powerful man and people love currying favor for powerful men.”

    “Curry favor and commit perjury in this courtroom, for a powerful man?” Vasquez said.

    “I have seen people do this time and time again,” Heard responded.

    PREVIOUSLY: Amber Heard described the threats she has received and the emotional trauma she has experienced as she countered Johnny Depp’s $50 million lawsuit with her own $100 million counter claim.

    In tearful testimony as she returned to the witness stand on Thursday, Heard said, “I just want Johnny to leave me alone.”

    Asked by her attorney what what has been the impact of claims that she fabricated her allegations of abuse, Heard said, “I am harassed, humiliated, threatened every single day. Even just walking into this courtroom. sitting here in front of the world, having the worst parts of my life, things I lived through, used to humiliate me.”

    She recounted receiving threats from “people [who] want to kill me, and they tell me so every single day.”

    “People want to put my baby in the microwave, and they tell me that,” she said.

    “Johnny threatened, promised, promised me that if I ever left him, that he would make me think of him every single day that I lived,” she said.

    Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard after she published a Washington Post op ed when she wrote that she “became a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Heard filed a $100 million counter suit after Depp’s attorney, Adam Waldman. claimed that she had make up her allegations.

    “I would not wish this situation on my worst enemy,” Heard told the jury.

    The judge has scheduled closing arguments for Friday. The trial has stretched out for 23 days, or six weeks, and has drawn record-breaking viewership for one of the sites streaming it, Law & Crime.

    Depp returned to the stand on Wednesday, when he again denied Heard’s allegations and called her claims “unimaginably brutal, cruel and all false.”

    Much of each side’s rebuttal has been via dueling expert witnesses, including orthopedic surgeons who offered different takes on how Depp’s finger was severed during an argument with Heard in March, 2016. Depp’s injury, which forced a delay in a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, has been repeatedly cited during the trial. He claimed that the tip of his finger was cut off when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him. She has contended that Depp injured himself.

    In questioning Heard on rebuttal, her attorney Benjamin Rottenborn focused his queries on the impact that Waldman’s remarks — and by extension Depp’s — had on her life.

    She described having to “live the trauma and the damage done to me,” and that there are a set of “unspoken rules about how to not touch me, not to surprise me” because of the risk that she will have a panic attack or some kind of triggering event. She said that has also impacted her career and during production on the Aquaman sequel.

    She claimed that Depp and his team had orchestrated a campaign that has “enlisted millions of people’ on social media against her.

    She also made a reference to Depp’s testimony, saying, “I am not sitting in this courtroom snickering … making snide jokes.” As he did during her initial testimony, Depp refrained from looking at his ex-wife.

    “I am a human being … I don’t deserve this … I want to move on,” she said.

    “I have a right to my voice and my name.”

    Amber Heard Expected To Testify Again In Johnny Depp $50M Trial; Closing Arguments Set For May 27

    (5/25/22) Amber Heard apparently will have the last word in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against her over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic violence.

    As the marquee name in the defense’s short rebuttal, the Aquaman star is expected to take the stand again Thursday in the Fairfax County Courthouse, we hear. Depp’s side has one more rebuttal witness left, which will likely eat up the first hour or so of the morning.

    If nothing changes, Heard will close out the last day of witness testimony in the six-week-long trial that started on April 11. With around an hour of time left in the defense’s case and just over a week after Heard was last on the stand, the actress will be the very last witness before closing arguments start bright and early on May 27.

    Relentless attacked on social media before and during the trial and claiming her career has been hobbled, a frequently tearful Heard testified that the dirty laundry airing trial was “torture.” Testifying in early May and last week, Heard added on May 16: “I want to move on; I want Johnny to move on.”

    Representatives for Heard had no comment when contacted by Deadline about their client testifying again.

    As occurred with Depp himself earlier this week, who may or may not be taking the stand can prove fluid. After testimony in late April, Depp was going to be called by the defense, as Deadline revealed on May 21, but then Heard’s clock watching legal team shifted priorities.

    In the end, Johnny Depp’s own legal team put their often glib and giggling client back on the stand today. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor was preceded by strong star power support from ex-girlfriend and supermodel Kate Moss via video link from the U.K.

    “I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse,” Depp told the Virginia jury and Judge Penny Azcarte on Wednesday. “All these outlandish, outrageous stories of me committing these things and living with it for six years and waiting to be able to bring the truth out,” the past Oscar nominee said of Heard’s claims of years of physical, psychological, verbal and sexual abuse during the couple’s relationship.

    “No matter what happens, I did get here and I did tell the truth,” Depp added. “And I have spoken up for what I’ve been carrying on my back reluctantly for six years,” he went on to say, referencing the duo’s temporary restraining order tainted divorce.

    Depp sued Heard in March 2019 over the late 2018 WaPo op-ed the actress wrote about becoming “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Though the op-end never mentioned Depp by name, the past Oscar nominee claimed it “devastated” his already waning career. Depp also claimed that he was in fact the one who was abused in the relationship.

    Having failed to get the case dismissed or moved out of Virginia, Heard in 2020 countersued for $100 million. That countersuit came months before Depp’s UK libel case against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater” proved dramatically unsuccessful in November 2020.

    It is pretty obvious that whoever the jury makes their verdict for, the other side will appeal in what has become a take-no-prisoners situation far removed from its First Amendment roots.

    Johnny Depp Oddly Claims Phone Was Used By Someone Else To Send Invective Texts About Amber Heard; Ending Testimony, Actor Says He “Never” Abused ‘Aquaman’ Star

    (5/25/22) 2nd UPDATE, 12:07 PM PT: Facing cross examination on his second stint on the stand, Johnny Depp took once last chance to swing back against an abundance of explicit and vile text message attacking Amber Heard, past lawsuits, and allegations of abuse.

    “Suddenly, I’m scum,” the fired Fantastic Beasts star told the Virginia courtroom of his response several years ago to domestic abuse claims by the Aquaman star. “I was Charles Manson, I was the worst thing on Earth. It kept coming, it was a non-stop fire.”

    “Never” said Depp in his final statement on the stand when asked if he ever abused Heard.

    Occasionally facile and clearly confident , the rebuttal witness for his own $50 million defamation trial against Heard faced a grilling in the Fairfax County Courthouse from the Aquaman star’s attorneys Wednesday. With Heard’s team having lost traction over the last week, the back and forth in their final attempt to undermine the former Pirates of the Caribbean actor’s contention that he was in fact the one who was abused in the vociferous relationship.

    In response to the so-called fire that Depp mentioned at one point today, the actor wanted in 2016 to tell Warner Bros that they could have “two franchises that would be causing problems to each other” and could “end up ugly.”

    After losing his 2020 UK libel suit against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater” in print, it was Depp who suffered WB’s axe with a quick cut from the second sequel in the J.K. Rowling franchise. Heard was one of the major actors in the Jason Momoa-led 2018 DC blockbuster but was almost dropped from the as-yet unreleased The Lost Kingdom sequel and saw her role reduced.

    Though Depp did not deny he told his ex-UTA agent Christian Carino in the summer of 2016 that he was “so happy this cum guzzler is out of my life” and “ I can only hope karma kicks in and takes the breath out of her,” the past Oscar nominee wasn’t always so definitive on the stand. During one exchange, Depp sought to weave away from other invective communication with vague notions that some one may have taken or started using “my phone.”

    Neither Depp nor his attorneys offered no proof of this claim. Oddly, Heard’s defense team failed to leap on the conspiratorial talk, which was virtually a gift to them.

    In that vein, as she has in the past, Judge Penney Azcarate appeared reluctant to rein in Depp’s answers and remarks, which at times went on and on. Additionally, Heard lawyer Ben Rottenborn scrambled at times to keep the cross examination on track over the empowered Depp’s commentary and distractions.

    A part of this trial and case from the very beginning, Depp’s exaggerated language in his texts and other communications got a bit of a pass too.

    “When you are accused of horrific acts and thing you have not done, when actually it is some very ugly things are going out there into the world about you, you get very irate and angry,” Depp justified to the court. As he has in the past, Depp turned his violent remarks onto Heard: “You do wonder why this person is doing this to me.”

    Lost once again in the proceedings was the legal foundation of this being a defamation trial based on Heard’s late 2018 Washington Post op-ed about becoming “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Though the op-end ever mentioned Depp by name, the actor has insisted that it was clearly about him and that the piece by his ex-wife and Rum Diary co-star “devastated” his already waning blockbuster career. The First Amendment issues have been buried under the dumpster fire of the couple’s time together with almost no explicit personal information in the relationship kept from public disclosure in the trial, now in its sixth week.

    While still somewhat fluid, the plan by Depp’s lawyers is to wrap up their portion of the case by EOD Wednesday. The judge has set closing arguments for May 27, with the jury to go into deliberations following the Memorial Day holiday. The seven member jury has to deliver a unanimous verdict in this civil action or the whole shebang devolves into a mistrial.

    Witnesses for the plaintiff’s rebuttal continue Wednesday afternoon with former TMZ staffer Morgan Tremaine, metadata expert Bryan Neumeister, and more.

    UPDATE, 9:40 AM PT: Johnny Depp gave an extended denial of his ex-wife Amber Heard’s claims that he physically abused her, telling the jury in his $50 million defamation trial that her claims were “unimaginably brutal, cruel and all false.”

    Depp returned to the stand on Wednesday to rebut a series of claims that Heard and her defense team presented in their case.

    “No human being is perfect, certainly not, none of us,” Depp said. “But I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse.” He went on about “all these outlandish, outrageous stories of me committing these things, and living with it for six years and waiting to bring the truth out.”

    “So this is not easy for any of us, I know that,” Depp said. “But no matter what happens, I did get here and I did tell the truth and I have spoken up for what I have been carrying on my back reluctantly for six years.”

    Depp laced his testimony with occasionally irreverent and sometimes biting quips.

    When his attorney asked him how it affected him when Heard obtained a restraining order on May 27, 2016, he said, “It changed everything.”

    Heard’s attorney then raised an objection for “relevance.”

    “Oh, it didn’t change everything?” Depp then said in a tone of sarcasm from the witness stand.

    Judge Penney Azcarate then reminded Depp, “Sir, if you could wait for the objection, please.”

    “I’m sorry. Tourette’s,” Depp responded.

    Depp also tried to counter the testimony of his former business manager, Josh Mandel, who testified that the actor burned through his fortune because of his profligate spending and as he faced a substance abuse problem. Depp, though, claimed that Mandel had embezzled his earnings and was “a very bitter man who ended up with a lot of money I worked hard for over the years.” Mandel denied those claims. After Depp sued, they reached a settlement.

    PREVIOUSLY 8:28 AM PT: Johnny Depp returned to the witness stand in his $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard on Wednesday in an effort to rebut his ex-wife’s claims of domestic abuse.

    At the start of Depp’s testimony, he offered a defense to Heard’s $100 million counter claim. She countersued in 2020, citing comments made by Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman that contended in comments to the Daily Mail that Heard’s allegations of abuse were fabricated.

    But Depp said that he wasn’t even aware of Waldman’s comments until Heard filed her counterclaim. Depp’s team contends that Waldman was not acting on Depp’s behalf.

    “It just seemed like a lot of word salad to me,” Depp said of Waldman’s comment. “I didn’t know where they came from, where they ended up.”

    Depp was called back to the stand by his legal in their rebuttal. He previously testified last month.

    Depp sued Heard after she wrote an op-ed published in the Washington Post in December, 2018. In the piece, Heard wrote that “two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” In 2016, Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp, claiming domestic abuse. He has denied those claims.

    Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Kate Moss Counters Rumor That Actor Pushed Her Down Stairs, Says He Actually Came To Her Aid

    (5/25/22) Kate Moss gave very brief testimony at the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, denying that the actor pushed her down a flight of stairs when they dated in the 1990s.

    Instead, Moss said that Depp came to her aid.

    She said that they had been staying at the GoldenEye resort in Jamaica and, during a rainstorm, “As I left the room I slid down the stairs and I hurt my back. I screamed because I was in pain.” She said that Depp came to her aid and carried her back to the room and got her medical attention.

    “He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any kind of stairs,” she said from Gloucester, England, where she was connected via video link.

    Moss and Depp dated from 1994 to 1998, she said. Depp’s legal team called her as a witness after Heard, in her testimony, referenced the supermodel.

    Earlier this month, Heard testified that during one of their arguments, in March 2015, Depp swung at her sister, Whitney, who was near a flight of stairs. Heard said that “in my head I just instantly think of Kate Moss and stairs” and then punched Depp to try to get him to stop.

    When Heard mentioned Moss, Depp’s attorney, Benjamin Chew, turned around and gave a fist pump to another attorney, Camille Vasquez, while Depp smiled. The actor’s legal team saw this as an opportunity to bring Moss into the case as a rebuttal witness, bolstering their claims that it was Heard who engaged in domestic abuse. Heard also referenced the rumor in her testimony during Depp’s defamation trial in the UK against The Sun. He lost that case.

    Heard’s team chose not to cross examine Moss, meaning her testimony was just a few minutes long.

    Johnny Depp To Be Called As Witness For Amber Heard Defense In $50M Trial

    (5/24/22) The judge in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial rejected the actor’s effort to reject his $100 million counterclaim.

    Heard’s counterclaim centers on statements made by an attorney for Depp, Adam Waldman, who claimed in a Daily Mail interview that the actresses’ allegations of domestic abuse were fabricated. Judge Penney Azcarate said that there was enough evidence to show that Waldman was acting as an agent for Depp, rejecting the actor’s attorney’s argument that Heard should be suing Waldman, not her ex-husband.

    Azcarate’s decision is not surprise, as motions to strike routinely come during trial proceedings and rarely are granted, reflecting the high threshold for dismissing a case before it gets to the jury. Depp’s attorney Benjamin Chew argued for their motion on Tuesday morning, just before Heard’s legal team rested their case.

    The judge previously denied Heard’s motion to strike Depp’s case. She also said that there was enough evidence of actual malice — the threshold for defamation cases against public figures — for the jury to render its judgment.

    “As to actual malice, Mr. Waldman made the counterclaim statements after he met with his client,” the judge said. “In addition, there’s evidence [Depp] was with Mr. Waldman at a meeting in February, 2020 with the Daily Mail Online.” She added that “there is more than a scintilla of evidence that a reasonable juror may infer that Mr. Waldman made the counterclaim statements while realizing they were false or with a reckless disregard for their truth.”

    Heard sued Depp in August, 2020, more than a year after the actor filed his $50 million defamation claim against her.

    Azcarate was not weighing in on whose side she thinks will prevail, but merely whether each side had met its threshold for their case to continue. As she noted, “it is not my role to measure the weight of the evidence.”

    Johnny Depp To Be Called As Witness For Amber Heard Defense In $50M Trial

    (5/21/22) It looks like there’s going to be a sequel to Johnny Depp’s testimony in the former Piractes of the Caribbean’s star’s $50 milion defamation trial against Amber Heard.

    Over two weeks after last appearing on the stand in the Virginia-set trial, Depp will be called by the defense as a witness on Monday, we’ve learned. The fired Fantastic Beasts star will be the third witness on May 23. Depp will follow an anatomy expert and an IPV expert in what is the last week of the April 11-starting trial.

    Representatives for Amber Heard and her legal team had no comment when contacted by Deadline about the witness schedule. However, a source close to the Depp legal team confirmed that the actor will almost certainly take the stand first thing next week.

    The bold move by Heard’s defense carries as much risk as advantage. While critiqued for being glib and unforthcoming on occasion, Depp did deliver a fairly compelling articulation of his insistence that he never was abusive to his Rum Diary costar during their relationship and subsequent marriage. Aquaman star Heard was the second witness for the defense, taking the stand for two days before the trial went on a one-week break, and two days after it came back earlier this week.

    The defense is anticipated to rest their case early next week.

    Judge Penny Azcarte has said that she wants closing arguments to occur on May 27.

    This widely covered and dirty laundry airing trial all stems from Depp’s March 2019 lawsuit against Heard over the late 2018 Washington Post op-ed she penned. In that piece for the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet, Heard called herself a survivor of domestic abuse. While he said nothing to this effect during the couple’s 2016 restraining order-filled divorce, Depp has insisted over the last three years that he never abused Heard, and in fact, is the victim of abuse himself.

    Proving unsuccessful in getting the lawsuit dismissed, Heard filed a $100 million countersuit in the summer of 2020. That countersuit came just a few months before Depp proved unsuccessful in his UK libel suit against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater.” Depp has also proved unsuccessful in all attempts to appeal that verdict.

    It is almost certain, regardless of who is on the witness stand and who the jury finds for ultimately, that there will be an appeal in the defamation case in Virginia.

    Johnny Depp “Always Drinking” & “Controlling,” Ellen Barkin Tells $50M Trial; Disney Exec “Not Aware” Amber Herd Op-Ed Played Any Part In Depp Not Getting ‘Pirates 6’ Role

    (5/19/22) UPDATE, 1 PM PT: Johnny Depp was “drunk a lot of the time,” Ellen Barkin told a Virginia courtroom today of her Fear and Loathing in Last Vegas co-star in his $50 million defamation suit against Amber Heard.

    The highest-profile witness to give testimony at the April 11 starting trial, Barkin’s stint on the virtual stand was relatively short and scathing for Depp. In a video deposition from November 22, 2019, the Emmy-winning actress told the court Thursday that Depp was always drinking or smoking a joint during their time as a couple of sorts in the mid-1990s.

    Heard and her legal team have described the abusive “monster” that Depp became under the influence of booze and drugs repeatedly. Vehemently denying that he abused or sexually assaulted Heard, Depp has declared in his March 2019 suit against Heard for a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed on being a survivor of domestic abuse that he was in fact the one being abused. The former Pirates of the Caribbean actor has also insisted that besides a bout with opioid Oxycodone in and around 2014, he has never had a drug or alcohol problem, no matter how much he ingests.

    Laying out a menu of “hallucinogenic, cocaine, marijuana” drug use that she claimed was constant for Depp, Barkin today detailed how things between her and the actor evolved — and how they went south.

    “He switched the buttons,” Barkin said of the change in her relationship in 1994 with Depp, who she had known for several years beforehand. “The friendship went from a purely platonic relationship” to…a “sexual” one for “several months,” the Animal Kingdom star detailed.

    While Barkin did not speak of any violence she experienced from Depp directly, the actress did provide details on outbursts and obsessive traits he displayed.

    “Mr. Depp threw a wine bottle across the hotel room in Las Vegas while we were shooting Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” she said of the 1996 film based on Depp pal Hunter S. Thompson’s seminal 1971 novel. Barkin said the bottle was thrown toward her and others in Mr. Depp’s Sin City suite during “a fight.”

    “He is just a jealous man, controlling,” Barkin also said of Depp in language and details that are very similar to how Heard and other witnesses for the defense have characterized the actor. “I had a scratch on my back once that got him very very angry because he thought I was having sex with someone I wasn’t.”

    The relationship ended suddenly and Barkin said in her video deposition that she “never heard” from Depp again over the past two decades.

    Barkin also testified in the actor’s unsuccessful 2020 UK libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater.” All appeals on that matter on the other side of the Atlantic have been fruitless — to Depp’s obvious frustration.

    Earlier in the afternoon, Heard’s former attorney Michele Mulroney appeared in a pre-recorded video deposition. She discussed her relationship with her one-time client and Heard’s then soon-to-be husband.

    “Very mean,” the lawyer said to the court of Depp’s behavior to her. “He called me names and he fired me on behalf of Amber,” Mulroney added of the widely-covered call that Depp made to her as Heard and he were about to be married.

    Depp and Heard never got a pre-nup after Mulroney was axed. With a $7 million settlement for Heard, couple divorced in 2016 amidst a media frenzy and temporary restraining order that the actress got against Depp.

    Also this afternoon in the Fairfax County Courthouse, Disney production executive Tina Newman testified in a February 11, 2022 video deposition that the likes of then House of Mouse brass Alan Horn and Alan Bergman and others passed emails around the studio in early 2018 containing articles about Depp’s antics on the set of 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales and details of his personal life. Newman also said she was “not aware” that Heard’s op-ed played any role in Depp not being asked back for a yet unmade Pirates 6.

    In his defamation suit and testimony, Depp has contended that the op-end, which never mentioned him by name, “devastated” his career and cost him lucrative movie roles.

    The trial is continuing Thursday with a video deposition from a Doctor Blaustein on Depp’s “substance abuse” and “anger issues.” Also appearing via a March 1, 2022 video deposition, Heard’s WME agent Jessica Kovacevic testified that her client lost the expected bounce out of the success of 2018’s Aquaman and the negative tweets and statements from Depp’s pal and ex-lawyer Adam Waldman “added fuel to the fire.”

    “Because typically when you have an actor in a movie as successful as that, as Aquaman was, their career total changes ..they’re more bankable,” a circumspect Kovacevic said. “With her, that did not happened.”

    “No one can say out loud that we’re taking this away from her because of this bad press ..but there is no other reason, the agent added, giving the example of an Amazon movie that suddenly was no longer interested in Heard as the blast radius from Depp’s 2019 lawsuit grew.

    Today’s session is expected to go until about 5:30 PM ET and will resume at 9 AM ET on May 23. Closing arguments in the bitter legal battle are set right now for May 27, Judge Penny Azcarte has said.

    PREVIOUSLY, 9 AM PT: The jury in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial on Thursday saw the actor’s former agent and former business manager describe the collapse of his reputation and his finances by the time they were let go in 2016.

    UTA’s Tracey Jacobs, who had represented Depp since the 1990s, laid out how the star came to the agency early in 2016 demanding $20 million. In pre-recorded video testimony that was played for the jury, Heard’s attorney asked Jacobs, “So Mr. Depp came in and said, ‘I want you to get $20 million for me?'”

    “Actually it was, ‘I want you to give me 20 million,'” Jacobs said. “The question was not asked as a loan.”

    Jacobs said that UTA partners Jim Berkus and Jeremy Zimmer, who were present at the meeting, told Depp that “we are not in a position to give our clients that kind of money. We are not a bank.”

    But Depp thought that the agency should just give him the money, Jacobs said, given the length of time that they represented him.

    Later, Depp’s former business manager, Joel Mandel, described Depp’s personal fortune exploding in the early 2000s, but that the situation began to change around 2010. Mandel said that Depp’s spending “had grown very large,” and that when his income dropped off, Depp’s expenses became “untenable.” That included $300,000 per month spent on staff.

    Mandel said that he had “constant” conversations with Depp about curbing spending, but that it “never seemed to happen.”

    By 2015, Mandel, the situation had gotten so alarming that Depp was unable to pay his taxes. He said that Depp was resistant to one suggestion, that he sell a property in the south of France.

    Depp fired Mandel later in 2016, and then sued the business management firm for $25 million. The lawsuit was settled in 2018.

    In his deposition, Mandel denied that he had ever stolen or embezzled any money, or had taken any money from the actor other than fees.

    Jacobs testified that they were able to secure a loan for Depp through Bank of America. “It was very helpful for him.”

    By the time that Depp dropped UTA in 2016, Jacobs said that his reputation for being tardy to sets had made it more difficult to get him work. “His star had dimmed due to it having harder to get him jobs due to the reputation he had acquired due to his lateness and other things,” she said.

    She said that the “other things” included questions about his drug and alcohol use. She said that she referred that Depp see Dr. David Kipper, whose practice assisted other high profile individuals in getting sober.

    “People were talking, and the question was out there about his behavior,” she said.

    Depp sued Heard after she published a Washington Post op ed in December, 2018, in which she said that she wrote that she had “became a public figure representing domestic abuse.” In his $50 million lawsuit, Depp claimed that the op ed damaged his reputation, costing him high paying roles like the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

    Heard’s legal team has argued that Depp’s reputation was damaged well before that point, due to his lateness on film sets and a life of heavy alcohol and drug use.

    Jacobs said that Depp was paid $25 million plus backend for Pirates 5, but that she could not recall whether there was any kind of negotiation for him to appear in the next in the film franchise. She said that they also secured a role for him in Murder On the Orient Express, in which he would be paid $5 million for four consecutive weeks of work, plus a portion of the backend.

    Although Depp had anger issues, Jacobs said, she said that she never witnessed him hit a woman or throw anything at a woman. Depp has denied Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse.

    Jacobs represented Depp first when she was at ICM and then when she went to UTA. She described how Depp’s career flourished, and he became “the biggest star in the world.” But she said that her work became more “complicated” in her last 10 years of representation, as he began to show up late “consistently on virtually every movie.”

    “I would get yelled at” by the studio, she said. “I never said to him, ‘You are a difficult client.’ I never used those words, but was very honest with him. I said, ‘You have got to stop doing this. This is hurting you, and it did.”

    She said that she went to Australia twice, where Pirates 5 was in production, because of the complaints of Depp’s lateness to the set. Asked about one of Depp’s reasons for dropping her as his agent — that her interests “were different than when we started” — Jacobs denied that she had conflicts and said that she was never represented by Mandel.

    Heard’s attorney asked Jacobs, “What would you say his reputation is today?”

    “His lawsuits don’t help. It’s endless,” Jacobs said, before adding that she didn’t know because “I’m not out there selling him.

    Later, Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman testified that he gave The Daily Mail two audio recordings. Heard’s $100 million countersuit against Depp claims that Waldman helped orchestrate a smear campaign against her by casting her abuse allegations as fabricated. His testimony was limited, as Depp’s team cited attorney-client privilege. Waldman did acknowledge engaging with figures he described as “internet journalists,” or those he said were not connected to mainstream news outlets. They included phone calls with a person who posts on social media by the name of “That Umbrella Guy,” as well as others.

    Amber Heard Acquaintance Tells $50M Trial Of Actress’ “Swollen Face” After Fight With “Wasted” Johnny Depp

    (5/18/22) UPDATE, 1:48 PM PT: A “wasted” Johnny Depp left a “visibly very upset” Amber Heard with a “swollen face” after an alleged 2016 fight, an acquaintance of the actress told a Virginia courtroom today in the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s $50 million defamation trial.

    “It looked like she had been hit in some way,” Elizabeth Marz said in a November 2019 video deposition played for Judge Penny Azcarete, the jury and on-lookers on Wednesday afternoon. Describing that spring night at Depp and Heard’s DTLA penthouse residences six years ago, the close friend of Heard’s pal Raquel “Rocky” Pennington also stated that the actor’s demeanor and presence “frightened me .”

    “If there is a grown ass man coming at you telling you to get your bitch out and swinging a magnum of wine… I ran out,” Marz said in the video of a seemingly out of control Depp. Reinforcing early testimony by Pennington and her fiancée, Marz also stated that Depp “seemed to be intoxicated” on that 2016 night. He was “sloppy, and all over the place ..combative, angry,” she went on to say.

    Coming a day after Heard ended her own testimony following a fiery cross examination from Depp lawyer Camille Vasquez, the stream of defense witnesses later on Tuesday and today moved very quickly into the weeds of the celebrity couple’s clearly toxic relationship. Most importantly, with First Amendment issues of Depp’s lawsuit against Heard over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed on being a survivor of domestic abuse by the judicial waist side right now, the defense’s emphasis is on a point-by-point collaboration of the Aquaman star’s claims of physical, psychological, verbal and sexual abuse against the fired Fantastic Beasts actor.

    With the April 11 starting trial set to go the rest of this week and next week to closing arguments on May 27, Heard’s team are in the driver seat for the most part from here on. To that end, the upcoming witness list will be female heavy to solidify Heard’s viewpoint in the jury’s eyes, we hear. Also, while rumors of Depp being called back to the stand by the defense are, the actor’s credibility will certainly be in the spotlight.

    Correspondingly, even more so that the actor’s unsuccessfully UK libel action against The Sun tabloid back in 2020, the standard of proving actual defection is very high on this side of the Atlantic. A challenge before any jury, regardless of if you are a movie star or not in what has proved to be an extremely explicit trial so far

    Sitting snugly between his main lawyers Ben Chew and Vasquez today, the sunglasses wearing Depp seemed fixated on the monitor and table in front of him. Heard, on the other hand, was looking up at the screens in the courtroom playing Marz’s more than two year old testimony.

    After Marz’s video, video testimony of makeup artist and former Heard friend Melanie Inglessis was shown in the Fairfax County Courthouse. In the February 2, 2021 video, Inglessis detailed to Heard attorney Elaine Bredehoft how she fixed up the actress’ allegedly batter face for a December 16, 2015 appearance on James Cordon’s CBS late night show. “We covered the bruises with a heavier concealer,” the makeup artist explained as to why Heard looked relatively unscathed on the show. “A really red lipstick to cover up the injury on the lip,” Inglessis continued of the cut lip Heard has claimed she suffered.

    Earlier on Wednesday, Heard’s sister Whitney Henriquez testified live about her close relationship with her sibling and Depp during their relationship and up to their 2016 divorce. “Johnny had already grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and was whacking her repeatedly in the face with the other, as I was standing there,” she stated of a March 2015 incident in Los Angeles.

    Discussing the good, the bad and the allegedly ugly that she witnessed, Henriquez said that part of the reason her sister didn’t bolt despite the claims of rampant abuse was that the duo’s relationship was “nuanced.”

    “They fought, they loved each other,” she said.

    Currently, expected to be the last witness of the day, the jury is watching a December 18, 2019 video deposition from Kristy Sexton. The Australian-based acting coach worked extensively with Heard over several years. “Johnny became much darker as time went on,” she said of the difference between the actor when she first met him and as the years passed. “He wasn’t very happy.”

    Sexton said that over time Depp became very critical and insulting about the types of roles Heard was taking on. She describe the final months of the couple’s relationship as “very tension-filled” and Heard started missing appointments or turning up crying with greater frequency as “the relationship progressed and the fighting got heavier.”

    PREVIOUSLY, 9:47 AM PT: A friend of Amber Heard testified on Wednesday about seeing the extent of the actress’ injuries following arguments with Johnny Depp.

    “I was scared for Amber,” said Raquel “Rocky” Pennington. “I was so sad for Johnny, because he is my friend too, and I really wanted them to be able to get it together.”

    Pennington’s testimony came via a video deposition from January. A great deal of her testimony centered on seeing Heard in the aftermath of an argument she had with Depp in December, 2015, at their downtown Los Angeles penthouse.

    The jury was shown photos of Heard, which Pennington said were taken that night. Fighting back tears at moments, Pennington described how one picture showed Heard with two black eyes and a swollen bottom lip.

    Pennington also described the injuries in questioning by Depp’s attorneys.

    Heard’s head was “raw and red,” she said, and there was “a bloody patch with her hair missing.” Asked if Heard’s face could have been red from crying, Pennington said, “It could have been.”

    But jurors also were shown other photos from that evening, including a photo of a clump of hair on the carpeted floor. Pennington testified that it was her understanding that the hair was Heard’s. She also said that she took some of the photos, but did not alter the images.

    Pennington said that they called for assistance from a private nurse at the penthouse, who instructed her to not let Heard got to sleep that night and to monitor her speech.

    In video testimony that ran on Tuesday, Pennington said that she and Heard no longer are close. She said that they no longer speak but they are “not enemies.”

    “I wanted to spend more time with other people in my life and prioritize other relationships,” she said.

    Pennington also testified about going to the Depp-Heard penthouse on the night of May 21, 2016 as the couple was having an argument.

    That incident is one of the key moments in the timeline of their marriage. Heard claims that Depp struck her with a phone. She filed for divorce several days later, and then obtained a restraining order against her estranged husband.

    But Depp denies that he struck her, and his legal team has questioned the veracity of Heard’s claims and photos of her injuries after that argument. Pennington, who lived in a next-door penthouse, said that when she entered Depp “was yelling. I don’t remember exactly what he was saying, but she was calling for help. That had never happened before. [She was] saying ‘Help. Help me.'”

    Pennington said that she put “my hands on his chest” and recalled saying, “Stop. Just stop. Calm down.”

    She said that she then put her body over Heard’s as she was on the couch, but Depp “was yelling at her to get up.” At one point, Pennington said, she saw a big orange ceramic ashtray. nearby. “I was thinking if he gets any closer I am going to just hit him with the ashtray,” she said.

    Depp stopped when two of his security guards came and one told him, “Boss, come on, let’s go.”

    But Depp then smashed stuff on a kitchen island before he left, Pennington said. She denied that she staged any of the scene afterward.

    Amber Heard Testimony Ends As ‘Aquaman’ Star Insists Johnny Depp “Guilty” Of Domestic Abuse; Actress’ Status In DC Sequel Unclear She Says In $50M Trial

    (5/17/22) 2nd UPDATE, 12:24 PM PT: “I’ve never assaulted anyone I’ve been romantically involved with,” Amber Heard told a Virginia courtroom Tuesday at the end of her often harsh cross examination in the $50 million defamation trial that Johnny Depp launched against his former spouse in March 2019.

    With Heard friend and author iO Tillett Wright up next as a witness via deposition, the actress has now completed her testimony in the feral matter, though the waves from her time on the stand will be felt right to the very of the trial and likely beyond.

    “He’s knows he’s guilty — why can’t he look at me?” Heard said later of her claims against Depp of physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse, under redirect with her own lawyer Elaine Bredehoft. The sunglasses-wearing Depp has been avoiding eye contact with his ex-wife since she took the stand.

    “I survived that man and I’m here,” Heard added with a cracking voice. During this exchange, Depp could be seen laughing with one of his lawyers less than stone’s throw away from Heard in the courtroom.

    “I realized that’s what I was entitled to but I didn’t want it, it’s that simple,” Heard told the court of why she didn’t seek the approximately $32 million from Depp she was entitled to in their divorce under California law. Although Heard left the marriage with a $7 million settlement that she said she would donate to charity, past blockbuster star Depp’s team has over and over tried to portray Heard as a golddigger.

    “What extortion?” Heard proclaimed to Depp attorney Camille Vasquez when the lawyer accused the actress of being after her client’s cash – a particular low moment in a trial that has gone almost as deep as the Mariana Trench on more than one occasion.

    In that context, Depp’s lawyers may have lacked an actual kitchen sink, but they tried to throw one figuratively at Heard today during further cross examination of the Aquaman actress in the $50 million defamation trial. That strategy continued during the redirect, with Depp’s lawyers calling out “objection” on almost every question by Bredehoft, about half of which Judge Penny Azcarte sustained.

    Before that, cooking, motherhood, “smear campaigns,” exercise, Depp’s unsuccessful “wife beater” UK libel suit, deleted tweets as well as a pretty dysfunctional relationship made up part of Vasquez’s parrying with Heard this afternoon. The blunt lawyer hoped to entrap the actress in her contradictions and assertions. Certainly, the playing in court of a 2016 audio tape of Depp and Heard bickering over responsibility of violence in their relationship blurred the lines of who did what first in what has been a series of messy and toxic revelations since the trial began April 11 and even before. Heard has long alleged that there were various types of abuse from an often booze- and drug-sodden Depp in the couple’s relationship.

    Although he said nothing to that effect during the divorce and its fallout, Depp in 2019 insisted he was actually the one abused in the relationship. He also has insisted that the late 2018 Washington Post op-ed Heard penned about being a survivor of domestic violence “devastated” the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s already waning career. Being that this bitter big-bucks battle is a defamation trial, it should be pointed out that the op-ed in the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet never mentions Depp by name. It should also be noted that Depp never sued the Post, though he did file in Virginia ostensibly because that’s where the paper is printed.

    As he has almost every moment his ex-wife has been on the stand, Depp never looked at her and mainly kept his eyes focused on the table in front of him. Thereby, the actor stayed true to his 2016 pledge to Heard that she would never see his eyes again – for what it’s worth. Depp and his other main lawyer Ben Chew leaned in several times to whisper to each other during a sidebar in the proceedings, with the attorney covering his mouth with his hand to avoid the celebrity lip-reading gangs. Later during redirect and in a nod to how absurd parts of this spectacle have become, Heard’s lawyer made sure the jury heard that Depp had actually made eye contact with Heard since his pledge – specifically at mediation conferences the separated couple and their then-legal teams had in 2016.

    Heard told the court that in a second mediation in Los Angeles in July 2016, Depp slipped her his new phone number and a note that read “I’ll love you forever my Slim, dead or alive.”

    As has been the case for the past two days, former Depp lawyer Adam Waldman became the equivalent of an unindicted co-conspirator with the frequent mentions of his name and statements about Heard he’s made to the media being brought up. Waldman’s comments on behalf of Depp throwing severe shade on Heard’s assault and abuse claims make up the thrust of the actress’ $100 million countersuit filed in the summer of 2020.

    Also, like Monday, the pointed cross examination of Heard by Vasquez has been frequently interrupted by objections from the defense table and sidebars with Azcarte – a tactic both sides are employing with seemingly little discretion at this frayed juncture.

    In a classic case of cross examination with more than a few snide asides today, Vasquez’s attempt to paint Heard as the aggressor in the marriage is of course but one swing of the pendulum in the trial.

    The fact is that at this point, five weeks into the trial, neither Heard nor Depp are looking like candidates for sainthood. The fact is also that Depp has a high bar to reach to prove defamation; with a single example of abuse in the couple’s relationship, Heard’s attorneys could establish the validity of the op-ed. Yet, despite the opinion of supporters of both Heard and Depp, the matter is a long way off from that, in relative terms.

    Closing arguments, scheduled for May 27, will be where the lawyers on both sides try to seal the deal with the jury, the only opinion that matters.

    UPDATED, 10:21 AM PT: Johnny Depp’s attorney challenged one piece of evidence that has been at the heart of Amber Heard’s claim that the actor struck her with a phone in a confrontation in May, 2016: Photos taken afterward in which her face appears reddish.

    “Isn’t it true that you just edited these photographs?” attorney Camille Vasquez asked Heard.

    “No, I have never edited the photograph,” Heard replied.

    “You just enhanced the saturation from one of these photos to make your face look more red?”

    “No, that is incorrect. I didn’t touch it,” Heard said.

    She said that one of the photos is different than the other because a light was turned on to show the extent of her injuries. The obvious goal was to raise doubts in the jurors’ minds about the veracity of the photos.

    Later on Tuesday morning, Depp’s legal team focused on the aftermath of the May 21, 2016 argument at the Depp-Heard penthouse in downtown Los Angeles’s Eastern Columbia building. Police were called, but Heard did not file a report. She did file for divorce several days later and obtained a domestic violence restraining order.

    Vasquez played elevator security camera footage from the Eastern Columbia building showing that actor James Franco arrived to visit Heard the next evening, on May 22. She also went down the list of witnesses who testified that they did not notice any injuries on Heard’s face after the argument with Depp.

    At one point, Vasquez got a bit snarky. She showed a photo that was taken of Heard, with her injuries, at the courthouse when she obtained the restraining order.

    Vasquez asked Heard if she was “having a photoshoot inside the courthouse while you are getting” a restraining order.

    “I would not characterize it that way,” she said. Heard said that she did not put on makeup before the courthouse appearance. “It was the only time I walked out of my house without makeup on,” she said, adding that a friend advised her not to do so.

    Later, Vasquez challenged Heard on the Washington Post op ed and its headline, “I Spoke Up Against Sexual Violence, And Faced Our Culture’s Wrath.”

    Heard said that she did not write the headline, and had not publicly accused Depp of sexual assault, as opposed to domestic abuse, and did not intend to until he filed his defamation lawsuit. “I did not write” the headline, Heard said.

    Asked by Vasquez why she didn’t request that the Post change it, given that she also tweeted out a link to the story, Heard said, “I didn’t ask them, nor did I notice it, nor did I need to,” she said.

    Jurors also heard a lengthy, expletive filled audio recording of one of Depp and Heard’s arguments, where she belittles him and calls him a “sellout.”

    “I was expressing frustration about his criticism of my career and the problems it caused within the dynamic of our relationship,” Heard said.

    “So you call him a sellout and a joke?” Vasquez asked.

    “I called him horrible, ugly things. As you can hear, we spoke to each other in a really horrible way,” she said

    When Vasquez suggested that Depp got her the role in Aquaman, Heard seemed surprised by the question. “Excuse me?”

    “Mr. Depp got you that role in Aquaman, didn’t he?” Vasquez repeated.

    “No, Miss Vasquez. I got myself that role by auditioning.”

    PREVIOUSLY, 8:33 AM PT: Amber Heard faced another morning of contentious testimony Tuesday, as one of Johnny Depp’s attorneys tried to raise doubts in the jury’s mind of her claims that her ex-husband assaulted her.Camille Vasquez challenged Heard over her timeline of events of an argument she had with Depp in March 2015, when they were in Australia at a rented home while he was shooting a movie. During the confrontation, the top of one of Depp’s fingers was cut off. He claims that Heard caused the injury when she threw a vodka bottle at him. Her attorneys claim that Depp injured himself, and she has testified that Depp sexually assaulted her with a bottle during the confrontation.

    Vasquez asked Heard multiple times about the sequence of events during the fight: when she said that Depp smashed a phone, severed his finger and pinned her down. But Heard said that she could not recall the sequence of events and has not claimed otherwise.

    At points, Vasquez’s cross examination became more of a matter of reminding the jury the contrasting claims of what happened.

    “Mr. Depp lost the tip of his finger after you threw a bottle at him, isn’t that right?” Vasquez said.

    “That is incorrect,” Heard said, glancing at times over at the jury.

    “You’re the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, isn’t that right, Miss Heard?”

    “I didn’t assault Johnny in Australia. I didn’t assault Johnny ever,” Heard responded.

    Then, Vasquez stated to Heard, “That night in Australia, after you cut off his finger with a bottle, you weren’t scared of him at all.”

    Looking toward the jury, Heard said, “This is a man who tried to kill me, of course it is scary, he’s also my husband.”

    Vasquez also noted that Heard did not seek medical treatment after the alleged assault. “There is not a single medical record for any of these injuries,” she said.

    Depp’s legal team has claimed that it was Depp who was a victim of assault and his then-wife was frequently belittling and confrontational. Vasquez, sometimes throwing in sarcastic asides as she questions Heard, has spent a great deal of her cross examination highlighting contradictions in the actress’ claims of assault.

    Earlier in the morning, Vasquez challenged Heard on why she gave Depp a knife as a gift in 2012, given that she testified that he was physically violent to her at the time.

    As the actual knife was shown in the courtroom, Vasquez asked, “That is the knife you gave to the man who was hitting you, right Miss Heard?”

    She answered, “I wasn’t worried that he was going to stab me with it when I gave it to him, that is for certain.”

    Heard said that 2012 was the “best of times” in their relationship because Depp was sober during part of the year.

    Depp sued Heard for $50 million for defamation over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which Heard wrote that she “became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” Depp has denied her claims of abuse. She has counter sued for $100 million over claims that she fabricated her stories.

    Amber Heard’s Cross Examination By Johnny Depp Lawyer Gets Harsh Fast In $50M Trial; Elon Musk $500K Donation To ACLU In Spotlight

    (5/16/22) 3rd UPDATE, 2:26 PM PT: It was obvious that things were going to get rough once Johnny Depp’s lawyers started to cross examine Amber Heard in the actor’s $50 million defamation trial against his former spouse and Rum Diary co-star. However, few probably could have predicted it would become such a fierce fray so quickly as it did this afternoon.

    “You testified that you were raped with a liquor bottle” in Australia during the 2015 making of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales plaintiff’s attorney Camille Vasquez asked a clearly ruffled Heard at one point this afternoon in the lawyer’s take no prisoners approach. “You bled from your vagina,” the poised lawyer added quoting Heard’s early testimony of sexual assault back to her and asking if she sought medical attention “for the rape” or took any photos.

    “I did not want to tell anyone,” a seemingly dissembling Heard replied. “I hated it, I hated it,” the actress later said in her cross examination of the state of her relationship with Depp and the various photos she took of him unconscious, either asleep or “on the nod.”

    The first stage of the cross examination Monday also solved one of the mysteries of the trial so far.

    Immediately after stepping to the podium to begin cross examination on Monday, Vasquez stated to Heard that the sunglass-wearing Depp has not looked at her during the trial that started on April 11. “Not that I’ve noticed,” Heard wearily responded as Vasquez said that Depp absurdly “promised you you would never see his eyes again.”

    To that end, the jury was played a late 2016 audio tape of the couple meeting up in San Francisco after they had separated and a restraining order was issued. On that tape, Depp can clearly be heard grumbling his soon-to-be ex-wife will never see his eyes again. On that recording, Depp adds “after all the shit you said – you will always be nothing to me.”

    Delayed Monday by a long conference with all the primary attorneys before Judge Penny Azcarte on the return from the afternoon break in the Fairfax County Courthouse, the scene saw Depp and Heard sitting alone at their respective tables and on the stand doing their respective best to avoid looking at each other. Having divorced in 2016 under media scrutiny and a TRO, Depp sued Heard in March 2019 for millions over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed the actress wrote about being a survivor of domestic abuse. Though the op-end never mentioned Depp by name, the past Oscar nominee has claimed it “devastated” his career and he was in fact the one who was abused in the relationship.

    Having failed to get the case dismissed or moved out of Virginia, Heard countersued for $100 million in the summer of 2020. That countersuit came months before Depp’s UK libel case against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater” flamed out unsuccessfully in November 2020.

    With short and pointed questions and a now more often-looking-up Depp watching, Brown Rudick’s Vasquez pushed Heard to explain why on that late 2016 audio tape the actress also seemed to taunt Depp to tell the world that he was the abused one in the relationship not her. “I was saying it because he was a man who beat me up for five years,” Heard pushed back. “I could never hurt Johnny.”

    In a tactical move to put the witness under an increasingly harsh light, Vasquez sought to undermine Heard’s emotional testimony of today and in early May. To that end, she led with the accusations of the likes of a March 2013 incident of Depp “hitting you several times” and a 2015 incident in Tokyo. Like almost all the alleged incidents of violence that were photographed and presented in the case, Vasquez reprimanded Heard for the lack of bruises, wounds and more in many of the photographs around the time of the violence that she claims Depp inflicted upon her.

    An approach that Heard’s side sees as indicative of the Depp strategy at this point.

    “In the face of offensive questioning, Amber stood strong and spoke the truth” a source close to the Heard camp told Deadline right as court closed from the day. “It is because of treatment like this that women are afraid to stand up and speak out about domestic violence and abuse.”

    In that context, one photo after another from various film and industry events during her marriage to Depp and 2015 clip from James Corden’s CBS late night show, Heard was confronted on why she did seem to be showing any signs of the violent abuse she claims the Pirates of the Caribbean actor battered her with. “Your nose doesn’t appear to be injured in any of these pictures,” Vasquez said to the defendant. Pointing to the power of well applied make-up, Heard coolly added: “Make-up will not cover-up swelling …ice will.”

    In the back and forth between the defendant and the lawyer, Heard on a number of occasions sternly said that she had provided all the evidence she had. On photographs not seen by the jury, she also declared that “she would like to” have included such snaps but “that’s not my job.”

    Punctuated with a number of statements of “I don’t know” and “I don’t recall,” from Heard, the cross exam also centered on the actress’ disputed assertion that she donated her 2016 $7 million divorce settlement, all of which she had received by October 2018, to charity. “As of today, you have not paid $3.5 millions of you own money to the ACLU …as of today you have not paid $3.5 millions of your own money to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles,” Vasquez clarified to an uncomfortable and agreeing Heard. I have never wanted to be seen as a victim,” Heard replied with a streak of anger as the lawyer listed off claims that the actress wanted Depp’s money and good press. “I pledged the entirety” to the charities, Heard added. “I haven’t been able to fulfill those pledges because I am being sued.”

    Vasquez rightly remarked repeatedly that Heard had all of the $7 million nearly six months before her ex-husband sued her in March 2019, which pretty clearly means she wasn’t hampered by any legal worries over that time. The attorney also repeatedly read out and played public statements by Heard that she “donated” all of her settlement to the charities.

    In this context, $500,000 payments to the ACLU from Heard’s post-Depp boyfriend Elon Musk were entered once again into the record. In some of her final words of the day on the stand, Heard insisted that those donations from Musk did not count against the sum of the $3.5 million the actress had pledged – a nuance that may have been lost on the jury in the staccato back and forth.

    Musk was named as a potential witness by Heard in the trial, but the would-be Twitter owner will not be testifying it was confirmed weeks ago.

    Coming again and again to the lack of medical records for many of Heard’s alleged injuries, Vasquez got caught up at one point in the paperwork of a visit by the actress to the actor’s physician Dr. David Kipper. While trying to nail Heard on the lack of citations of injuries, Vasquez was knocked off her game when Heard noted that the report said she was a “well-nourished male.” Sensing an opening, Heard said that she believed there was “a lot missing” from the Kipper paperwork. “There was nothing to document,” Vasquez hastily replied.

    On another occasion, with Depp’s self-admitted drug use being highlighted, the two sparred over whether the actress “captured” the actor doing cocaine. Centering on a widely seen photo of a table in one of the couple’s residences with several lines of the drug chopped out on it, things turned almost comical with Heard responding to Vasquez’s demand to know why there wasn’t any “residue” on the “tidy” table.

    “When you snort cocaine, typically it goes up your nose,” Heard started, adding that perhaps the lawyer didn’t know how taking cocaine worked.

    As he has before over the previous four weeks of the trial, the widely mocked Depp looked to giggle and quip with his lawyer Ben Chew. The actor was particularly lively during one period this afternoon when the lawyers were once again talking to Judge Penny Azcarte in what was a fairly broken up session.

    Heading into the final weeks of the trial, the cross examination of Heard ended today around 5:22 PM ET. It will continue on Tuesday with court set to start at 9 AM ET. Judge Azcarte has said he wants to see closing arguments start and finish on May 27.

    2nd UPDATE, 12:18 PM: Even before the cross-examination of Amber Heard by Johnny Depp’s lawyers has began in the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s $50 million defamation trial against his ex-wife, things got very heated and messy today in Fairfax, VA.

    How To Watch The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Livestream Link & Trial Schedule

    “I tried to protect Johnny … and the secret I tried hard to keep for five years,” Heard loudly told the court of why she never filed charges or a LAPD report against her then-husband. “Unfortunately, all of this is real,” the actress added Monday of her claims of physical, emotional, verbal and sexual violence. “I narrowly survived it, but I survived it.”

    Calling the public spectacle of the media attention and the much-delayed trial “torture,” Heard proclaimed, “I want to move on; I want Johnny to move on.”

    Other than that repeated sentiment, it was almost all about the money today as the high-profile trial began its fifth week after a week off — specifically, Aquaman star Heard’s career and the $7 million settlement Heard received from Depp in the couple’s 2016 divorce.

    During her testimony that her professional life had been harmed by the Depp controversy, Heard laid out the clauses of her three-picture Justice League contract with Warner Bros. The actress said that her pay for 2018’s Aquaman was $1 million plus “box office bonuses.” Heard also revealed that her check for the 2023-premiering sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was $2 million — a film that she barely was able to remain with, she claimed today.

    “I fought really hard to stay in the movie, they didn’t want me … in the film,” Heard said of her Mera role in the James Wan-helmed sequel. Subsequently, the film had “a very-pared down version of that role … they removed a bunch out.”

    There have been whispers that Heard actually is in the DC flick very little — rumors that Warner Bros has neither confirmed nor denied.

    The actress further detailed Monday how her lucrative contract with cosmetics company L’Oréal dried up after the statements by Depp confidant and former lawyer Adam Waldman were picked up by the Daily Mail and other media over the past couple of years. After making $200,000 an episode for her stint on Paramount+’s 2020 adaptation of Steven King’s The Stand, Heard said on the stand that she essentially was dropped from all promotion of the series due to the perceptions of her and Depp’s lawsuit.

    In terms of the $7 million divorce settlement, how much of that settlement actually has been donated to the ACLU and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as Heard promised six years ago was a major theme of today’s testimony. Often cited as credit to Heard’s character and a solid refutation to taints of her being a gold digger, the fact is Heard has not handed over the vast majority of the respective $3.5 million to either the ACLA or CHLA, as Deadline exclusively confirmed on January 6, 2021.

    Clearly trying to turn the tide on the lack of fulfilling her pledge, Heard told her lawyer Elaine Bredehoft that she “was receiving the installments over time” and paying them out over time for “tax benefits.” Declaring that she “fully intends” to pay the donations in full and detailing how her career was harmed after the couple’s divorce, Heard added she “would love [Depp] to stop suing me so I can.”

    In the exchange, Heard noted that she has paid out “over $6 million” in legal fees since Depp sued her in 2019 over a late-2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic violence. Some of those fees might include Heard’s participation and testimony in Depp’s ultimately unsuccessful 2020 UK trial to sue Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater.”

    Even though a joint statement on the couple’s 2016 divorce bluntly said there “never false claims for “financial gain’” and “there was never intent of physical or emotional harm,” the often-litigious Depp insists that he never abused Heard and in fact was the victim of abuse in the relationship. The fired Fantastic Beasts actor also said three years ago and repeatedly since that Heard’s ACLU-drafted op-ed, which never mentioned him by name, “devastated” his once-highflying career. Asked at length about the op-ed, which Heard retweeted at the time with a headline that the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet later finessed, the actor stated, “It’s not about Johnny; the only person who thinks it is about Johnny is Johnny.” On the verge of tears and with a breaking voice, she went on say, “It’s about me and what happened to me.”

    Heard testified later that she never first brought up the sexual assault allegations in her marriage. Explaining her summer 2020 $100 million countersuit against Depp, Heard said that her ex-husband’s right-hand man Waldman, allegedly on behalf of the actor, gave information of sexual assaults claims and more to the media to discredit the actress. Waldman is not a part of Depp’s legal team in the Virginia courtroom at the trial that began April 11.

    “All I have is my name, I come from nothing,” the Rum Diary actor pleaded to the courtroom earlier in the East Coast afternoon. “I was never interested in Johnny’s money,” she went on to say of the $7 million settlement the couple eventually agreed on to end their relationship. Heard made a point of telling the courtroom that she took the money simply to end the legal fighting and that she initially had offered much more.

    Running the risk of losing the jury’s focus with a long examination, Bredehoft immediately after the lunch break today launched back into the couple’s 2016 divorce proceedings to capture their attention. Playing the court an audiotape of the duo from June 2016 discussing the hurdles that seemed to hinder their ability to move the separation, and amidst constant objections from Depp’s team, the defense heard Heard asking her then-husband to agree to a “mutual gag order” as he complained about allegation of abuse and a temporary restraining order “throwing me under the bus.”

    “I was trying to get Johnny to stop the smear campaign,” Heard said from the stand after the first portion of the tape was played. She told the Fairfax County Courthouse that Depp promised to “ruin my career” and “that I would be selling Depends.” As has been the case through most of his ex-spouse’s testimony, a sunglasses-wearing Depp remained huddled over the table in front of him scribbling as the sometimes-crying Heard spoke and as portions of the 2016 tape played

    “I was begging Johnny to not make me prove what I have been sitting on the stand proving to you today,” Heard claimed on breaking the TRO to get “yes men” surrounded Depp to “back off.”

    “I don’t want this,” the actress added of the bitter and dirty laundry-airing trial Depp launched on March 2019. “I didn’t want to hurt him, I loved him so much … that’s why I didn’t file criminal charges, that’s why I didn’t file a police report even though it was beginning used against me … by your side.”

    Heard will continue on the stand until the end of court today at around 5:30 p.m. ET and is expected back tomorrow

    UPDATED, 10:28 AM PT: Amber Heard testified today that fears for her own safety led her to file for divorce against Johnny Depp in 2016 and that she also sought a restraining order after an argument in which he struck her with a phone.

    “I knew that if I didn’t, I’d likely not literally survive,” Heard said Monday as she fought back tears. “I was so scared that it was going to end really badly for me, and I really didn’t want to leave him.”

    She filed for divorce in the aftermath of a May 21, 2016, argument at their downtown Los Angeles penthouse, one that led to the police being called. Although Heard did not file a police report that evening, she later sought and obtained a restraining order against him.

    “I wanted to change my locks, I wanted a good night’s sleep,” she said. “Security would always let him in the house no matter what I asked them.”

    She added, “I was scared and very conflicted because the person I was scared of was also the person I was in love with.”

    Depp has denied Heard’s allegations that he was physically violent, and filed a $50 million defamation case against her after she published a Washington Post op ed in which she wrote that he was “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

    In her testimony on Monday, she went through the events of May 21.

    At the time, she and Depp had been separated for about a month. But his mother had just died, and he and Heard made plans for him to come by the Eastern Columbia penthouse that day.

    Heard said that when Depp arrived early that evening, she could tell that he was inebriated. He started talking about an incident from a month earlier, in which feces had been left on their bed. Heard contends that it was from one of their dogs, but Depp insisted that one of her friends had left it there as a prank.

    “He just went on and on about it,” Heard said.

    She got a male friend on the phone to explain why such a prank “was impossible,” Heard said, but Depp ended up screaming at him.

    Heard said that Depp, after leaving and going up the stairs, then came back down and grabbed the phone and told the friend: “You can take her. You can have her.”

    It was then, she said, that Depp “throws his arm back with the phone and throws it in my face.” She said it felt like her eye had been hit.

    “I put my head in my hand and immediately started crying. I said, ‘Johnny, you hit me,'” Heard said.

    She said that Depp started taunting her, saying, “Oh yeah, I hit you, huh?”

    She said that he then “whacks me on top of my head” and grabbed her by her hair.

    “I don’t know if he was intending to hit me around face, but he does this gesture around my face to try to expose my face to him,” she said. She said that Depp then told her, “Let me see how bad I hurt you this time.”

    Heard said that her friend, Raquel, living in the apartment next door, came into the room and “managed to get in front, between he and I.” Heard said that she calmly told Depp, “No, Johnny, no.”

    Her friend put her arms around her as she curled up around the couch, but “Johnny is just screaming at me to get the f*ck up.”

    She said that two of Depp’s security guards then entered, with one of them saying to Depp, “Boss. boss.” She said that Depp then smashed things around the apartment and eventually left.

    Heard said that she did not call 911, but she did call her lawyer, who referred her to a domestic relations attorney. Depp’s lawyers objected to Heard’s attempts to identify who called the police — it was a friend — but said that when the officers arrived, she told them that she refused to cooperate on her attorney’s advice.

    She also declined to file a report.

    “I wanted to protect Johnny,” she said. “I didn’t want him to be arrested. I didn’t want him Ito be in trouble. I didn’t want the world to know.”

    The jury was shown a series of pictures showing her with redness on the side of her face. Heard said that the photos were taken that evening by her friend. Another photo, which she said was taken the next day, showed some blackness around the eye and redness below.

    Depp has acknowledged throwing a phone on the couch, but denies striking Heard. His case has focused in part on witnesses who said that they saw Heard in the days after their argument but did not notice bruises on her face.

    Heard’s legal team also presented text messages that Depp wrote to Heard on May 22, the day after their confrontation. “All my love and profound apologies,” he wrote that evening. Heard said that in a phone conversation with him, Depp “said he was sorry he reacted the way he did” and that “he didn’t man to hurt me.”

    PREVIOUSLY, 8:24 AM PT: Amber Heard’s testimony resumed on Monday in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against her, as the actress made further details of her ex-husband’s alleged abuse during their marriage.

    The Fairfax, VA, trial was on a one-week break as Judge Penney Azcarate attended a pre-scheduled judicial conference, but Heard picked up where she left off, with stories from their stormy marriage, presented along with audio of their arguments and photos of her alleged injuries.

    One photo, from December 15, 2015, showed her bruised temple. Heard testified that Depp caused the injury during one of their arguments.

    “Johnny had his hand on part of my face, with my face down, and he was punching my head, repeatedly punching my in my head,” she said. “That is what caused that bruise in my temple.”

    Depp has denied abusing Heard. He filed his lawsuit against her after she published a Washington Post op ed in December 2018, in which she wrote that “two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.”

    In Monday’s testimony, Heard said that by January 2016, Depp’s drug use had become so severe that he had been “hallucinating.” Depp’s attorney objected to that specific characterization, but Heard was allowed to describe other aspects his behavior.

    “He was talking to people who weren’t there, meaning people who were not in the room,” she said. “He would comment on someone being in the room behind me who wasn’t there. It was terrifying.”

    Heard also addressed a notorious incident from April 2016, when they got in an argument after Depp missed her 30th birthday dinner. She said that their fight included a shoving match, and Depp throwing a bottle of champagne that went through a painting. She said that he then wrestled her down on their bed and grabbed her by her pubic area. He was taunting me: ‘Look who is so tough. Want to be tough like a man now?'” Depp finally screamed at her, “Happy f*cking birthday!” and then stormed out, she said.

    The next day, she said, a friend came over and they were to drive to the Coachella Music Festival. One of their dogs, Boo, had been on the bed but had bowel-control issues. Depp had testified earlier that fecal matter had been left in the bed, an incident that was the source of a Saturday Night Live skit over the weekend.

    But Heard denied committing any kind of prank. “I don’t think that is funny, period,” she said. “I think that is disgusting.”

    Amber Heard sparks debate over whether she’s quoting movies in testimony

    (5/6/22) Supporters of Johnny Depp are accusing Amber Heard of dramatizing her testimony in the former couple’s ongoing defamation trial by borrowing lines from famous films.

    However, others are insisting online that the comparisons are a reach.

    Breitbart News reporter Alana Mastrangelo tweeted Thursday a side-by-side video of Heard’s quotes on the stand this week and a scene from the 1999 film “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

    She wrote, “Amber Heard: ‘When I was around Johnny I felt like the most beautiful person in the world — then he would disappear.'”

    Mastrangelo then pulled a “Mr. Ripley” line: “The thing with Dickie, it’s like the sun shines on you and it’s glorious — then he forgets you and it’s very cold.”

    One person commented in response to the comparison, “Seems like a stretch… but she’s definitely putting on a show.”

    Another argued, “It wasn’t the exact same words.. but that’s what you do when you make the character your own.”

    A separate user agreed with the former, writing, “These are two complete different quotes?”

    Then another chimed in, “You do realize that literally anyone who has been in a relationship like hers has likely described their partner in a similar way, right?”

    Meanwhile, podcaster NotSkinnyButNotFat pointed out on Instagram that Jennifer Garner once used a similar quote to speak about ex-husband Ben Affleck.

    The “13 Going on 30” star told Vanity Fair in 2016 of her children’s father, “I always say, ‘When his sun shines on you, you feel it.’ But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold. He can cast quite a shadow.” However, Mastrangelo was convinced that Heard, 36, had taken inspiration from several movies, also noting that the actress’ mention of a “dirty carpet” after Depp, 58, allegedly hit her was “reminiscent of scenes from Netflix’s ‘Maid.'”

    She also highlighted Heard’s claim that Depp once told her “I’d rather cut my hand off than ever lay it upon you” as similar to a line from the 1945 drama “Mildred Pierce,” in which the star says, “I’d have rather cut off my hand.”

    Reps for Heard declined to comment on the movie quote debate.

    However, Depp’s legal team appears to believe the “Aquaman” star is putting on some sort of an act on the stand.

    They told Page Six in a statement Thursday, “As Mr. Depp’s counsel correctly predicted in their opening statements last month, Ms. Heard did indeed deliver ‘the performance of her life’ in her direct examination.”

    Heard’s rep responded soon after, saying in part, “As evidenced by the statement just released, Mr. Depp’s defamation claim is falling apart so rapidly that his counsel are turning from prosecutor to persecutor.”

    Depp is suing Heard for defamation over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote that she was a victim of sexual violence.

    Although the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star was not named in the article, it was written after Heard filed a restraining order against her ex-husband in 2016 over abuse allegations.

    The former couple started dating in 2012 and were married from 2015 to 2017.

    Depp is seeking $50 million in damages. Heard has filed a $100 million countersuit.

    Resurfaced Amber Heard interview contradicts testimony about Johnny Depp

    (5/6/22) Amber Heard seemingly contradicted herself when she testified that she “wasn’t a fan” of Johnny Depp before their relationship.

    TikTok user @courtneymack resurfaced an October 2011 interview from the exes’ press tour for their movie “The Rum Diary” and combined it with footage of Heard on the stand in court Wednesday to show how her story apparently changed.

    “I knew who he was,” Heard, 36, testified, as seen in the video. “I wasn’t familiar, you know. I wasn’t a fan of his work. I wasn’t familiar with him.”

    The montage then cuts to the decade-old SheKnows interview, in which Heard was asked whether she was a fan of Depp growing up.

    “I mean who isn’t a fan of Johnny’s? That’s a given,” she quickly replied. “He’s been a cultural icon and a talented actor for since I can remember.”

    Social media users flocked to the comments section of the video to accuse Heard of perjury.

    “At this point she’s made up so many lies that she cannot remember what she has said,” one viewer wrote.

    “Caught lying in court under oath !” another user alleged.

    “’I knew who he was’ ‘i wasn’t familiar with him’ wait, what? ????,” someone else commented.

    Even Depp’s legal team has accused his ex-wife of acting on the stand, telling Page Six Thursday that Heard delivered “the performance of her life,” a statement that her rep described as an example of “attacking the victim and refusing to take responsibility.”

    The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor, 58, is suing Heard for defamation over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed, in which she wrote that she was a victim of sexual violence without naming her ex-husband. However, she wrote it after she was granted a restraining order against him in 2016 over abuse allegations, which he has denied.

    Heard took the stand and made various claims against the actor this week. The “Aquaman” star alleged that Depp had beaten and threatened to kill her, performed a “cavity search” on her, broke her nose and called her a “slut” over her working relationship with James Franco.

    Depp is seeking $50 million in damages. Heard has filed a $100 million countersuit.

    The trial is currently on a break through May 16, when Heard will return to the stand.

    Amber Heard Believed Johnny Depp Was “Going To Kill Me,” She Tells Jury Of Alleged 2015 Attack, More Sexual Assaults; $50M Defamation Trial Goes Dark For Next Week

    (5/5/22) 3rd UPDATE, 2:35 PM: “He’s going to kill me now,” Amber Heard told a Virginia jury today she thought to herself of an alleged late 2015 beating by Johnny Depp. “He’s going to kill me and he’s won’t’ even realize it.”

    Along with those searing words and another story of an alleged sexual assault, Heard ended her second day of testimony in the $50 million defamation trial also reciting her version of a 2015 fight at the couple’s downtown LA apartment and her striking the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.

    “In all of my relationship to date with Johnny, I hadn’t landed a blow,” Heard told the Virginia courtroom of her efforts to stop Depp from knocking her sister down a flight of stairs in the mid-2015 event. “I hit him, square in the face

    “Sure, I had tried to fight back …but never landed anything,” the Aquaman actress calmly said as her ex-husband sat nearby between his lawyers, scribbling at the table right front of him. “Johnny looked stunned and laughed at me … security pulled him away.”

    In the closing minutes of Thursday’s session in the five week long that started on April 11, Heard’s words today were part of a big picture position by her legal team to take the air out of Depp’s repeatedly claims that he was the abused one in the high profile couple’s relationship and marriage, that end in 2016 amidst retaining orders and more.

    Recalling that December 15, 2015 altercation, Heard detailed being head butted by Depp.

    “Punching me, punching me repeatedly with his fist, I don’t even remember the pain, just the sound of Johnny’s voice .. I f*cking hate you, over and over,” Heard asserted as Depp, their respective lawyers, the jury and Fairfax County Judge Penny Azcarte looked on. “Pounding the back of the head I could just hear him saying he was going to kill me, he sounded like an animal in pain,” Heard continued in a softer than usual voice as her Run Diary co-star once again avoided eye contact with her in the relatively small courtroom.

    A photo of the seemingly bruised and broken nosed Heard in the days after the alleged assault in question was displayed for the court. In fact, with broken lips and more, a number of photographs of Heard depicting injuries from Depp’s alleged beating were shown to the jury and everyone else. The first fight between the couple that was discussed this afternoon supposedly kicked off when Heard discovered texts on Depp’s iPad between the actor and a woman he had been involved with previously. To Heard, the correspondence implied that Depp and the woman were involved once again.

    Depp has sought to tarnish “slut” Heard, as he called her on a number of occasions, with being unfaithful during their relationship. Such accusations when the couple were together occurred when the actor was often in a drug and booze induced rage.

    Claiming he never abused anyone, Depp sued Heard in March 2019 over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed that she wrote on being a survivor of domestic abuse. Though the piece never named Depp, the past Oscar nominee claims it “devastated” his career and reputation and cost him big pay checks for big movies. Failing to get the case dismissed, Heard countersued her former spouse for $100 million in the summer of 2020. Later that year, Depp very publicly lost a UK libel suit he instigated against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife-beater.”

    Earlier, calling the relationship “toxic,” 36-year old Heard denied that she had written on a mirror amidst the wreckage of the Australian rented house the couple initially live in during the filming of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean flick in 2015. Depp’s team have sought to hang at least some of the destruction in the residence on Heard. “It seems significantly cleaned up,” Heard told her lawyer Elaine and the court of photos of the remnants of that “Australia incident.”

    He asked if he had “killed it, meaning the relationship …is this done, is it over? Heard said of a call from Depp to her as the actress hurried the airport in Australia following the alleged violence there.

    “My heart was broken .. I thought something might happen to him, like he might die, or kill himself,” Heard admitted of her thoughts of getting back in the relationship despite the alleged violence and sexual assaults. “I wanted to stay with the good Johnny that I loved ..so I decided to believe it would never happen again,” she told the court of making one more attempt at reconciliation in late 2015 for a Christmas family vacation at his private Bahamas island.

    Not long after that trip began, a supposedly wine spilling Depp shoved Heard and threatened to “kill you” if she ever embarrassed him in front of his children again. Pausing for long stretches on the stand, Heard added, “he shoved his finger inside me through my bathing suit” while taunting her with “you think you are so tough?’ More violence seemingly followed, with Depp found “passed out” nearby the house the next morning

    Finished now for day after going a bit longer than usual, the trial will not resume until May 16 because of a pre-scheduled conference the Judge has. Heard is expected to be subjected to cross examination soon after everyone returns to the court.

    Before bringing the jury back in for the final portion of today’s trial, a time conscious Judge Azcarte asked the assembled lawyers if breaking traditional was alright with them and closing argument were held on May 27, a Friday – which is usually a dark day for the trial. Usually stating at 10 AM ET, the trial will now start at 9 AM ET when it returns.

    Also, at the end of today’s court session, the judge told the lawyers that the plaintiff’s side had used up 35 hours and six minutes of their allotted time and the defense has used 36 hour and 31 minutes. Which leaves the Depp side with 26 hours and nine minutes remaining and the Heard side with 24 hours and 44 minutes left in case that is aiming to be done by Memorial Day. “Once your time is up, your time is up,” Judge Azcarte reminded the attorney and their respective Hollywood clients.

    2nd UPDATE, 12:49 PM: “He told me he’d carve up my face,” Amber Heard told a Fairfax County jury that a broken bottle welding Johnny Depp said to her in a fight between the couple in Australia in March 2015.

    Revealing that she herself smashed a bottle that her new and not all together sober husband supposedly taunted her with, Heard affirmed that Depp ripped her nightgown off, threw at least one goblet, and left her nakedly slipping on a floor of broken glass. She added that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was screaming at her that “he f*cking hates me and I ruined his life” while punching the wall next to her. At another point, Heard said Depp was on top of her, screaming and “had me by the neck.”

    “I’ll f*cking kill you, he said it over and over again,” Heard divulged Depp yelling at her as he allegedly penetrated her with a bottle “over and over again” during that time in Australia. Asking her lawyer Elaine Bredehoft not to pry too much, Heard expounded on the incident and bruises, bloody wounds and more she says she suffered.

    Along with claims of physical, verbal and emotional abuse, Heard and her legal team have asserted that Depp sexually assaulted the actress repeatedly during their relationship. Depp has denied all such claims.

    “I’ve never been so scared in my life,” the actress bellowed herself between sobs on the stand in front of Judge Penny Azcarte, the jury, Depp, lawyers and others of another clash between the couple. “I was trying to tell him he was really hurting me, I don’t think he knew what he was doing,” Heard said, before breaking down in the courtroom. “I couldn’t breathe.”

    Waking up to a blood and blue and brown paint stain house, with a “incoherent” message and what she thought was her name, and smeared food everywhere, Heard on Thursday painted a now familiar portrait of destruction that the jurors have been exposed to since the trial started on April 11.

    “He wasn’t there anymore, it wasn’t Johnny,” she said of the expression in her then spouse’s face that day as she “figured out” Depp was missing part of his finger.

    Depp’s deeply wounded digit has long been an inflection of contention in the 2016 divorced couple’s relationship and this much-delayed trial. Both sides say the other was responsible to the injury that shut down production on Disney’s big budgeted fifth Pirates movie. On the stand, Heard said that after Depp pissed outside the dwelling to “send her more messages,” a nurse tried to give her drugs to calm her down.

    “I just remember being scared …not knowing what the Hell was going on,” Heard went on to say, telling the court that she soon afterwards grabbed what ever she could and left Australia.

    From the harrowing testimony from the Aquaman star this afternoon in the Virginia courtroom, the beginning of that time down under in March 2015 while Depp was working on the rocky filming of Dead Men Tell No Tales was a relentless round of fights between the couple. Strategically, Heard’s defense team are using their client’s testimony to try to diffuse Deep’s assertion that he was the abused one in the relationship by putting her actions and outbursts in a reactive pose.

    Using language that the jury have heard before from the stand and on audio tapes, Heard claimed Depp insulted her as a “fat ass,” “whore” and saying no one in his circle liked her. Amongst all that, there seemed to be one violent physical confrontation after another with an apparently enraged and under the influence Deep choking Heard, pushing her up against walls, knocking her to the ground and “whacking me in the face.”

    At one point, Heard exclaimed a “belligerent” and apparently fight seeking Depp screamed at her: “You wanna go, little girl!”

    Heard also detailed an allegedly raging on the phone Depp telling n lawyer of Heard’s from Australia that “the only way out of this was death.” The past Oscar nominee made the ominous statement to a lawyer that Heard had hired to review documents around the couple’s recent marriage. On that same call, Depp fired Heard’s then attorney

    “I was back on the chopping block,” Heard bluntly said.

    Earlier on Thursday, for the first time since his ex-wife took the stand, a shaken Depp took off his sunglasses with a pursed look on his face as Heard broke down sobbing recollecting an allegedly violent incident in Tokyo around the time of the January 205 Mortdecai premiere.

    However, Depp did look aside for a brief moment to flash a closed mouth smile off to his right where lawyer Ben Chew was seated. Soon after, as Heard detailed the couple’s private and semi-private 2015 wedding, an agitated Depp lifted up from writing on the table in front of him and leaned over to whisper to Chew. Later, as evidence of the debris and fallout of the March 2015 fight at the rented house in Australia was posted on the courtroom monitors, a gum chewing Depp conferred over and over with Chew, sometimes pointing at the screen directly in front of him

    Sure to wrap up the last day of the trial until May 16, Heard will return for more testimony after the current break the court is on.

    1st UPDATE, 10:10 AM: On the 15th day of Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard, the Aquaman star told the Virginia courtroom how things between herself and the Pirates of the Caribbean actor “really weren’t okay…I was just catering to his mood” during his 2014 detox from Oxycontin.

    “I said something to him, he got so angry and slapped me across the face,” a sometimes crying and voice-cracking Heard said Thursday in her second day of testimony. “But it was so weird, he was crying…no women had embarrassed me like that,” the actress added, as a mainly downcast and scribbling Depp sat nearby with his lawyers.

    Though at one point, as Heard described the events in the Bahamas eight years ago, Depp did become quite animated and leaned over to attorney Ben Chew. At another junction, as he had yesterday, Depp giggled and snickered like a schoolboy with Chew as Heard today detailed the increasing controlling behavior Depp displayed over her. Specifically, Heard described the criteria he demanded she meet to be in the 2015 released Magic Mike XXL

    Recalling the Bahamas detox process Heard declared, “I deeply cared about this human’s well-being…it was very confusing and scary,” noting the praise that Depp gave her. “He told me all the time I save his life, he wouldn’t be doing this without me,” she said. Later, as Depp’s lawyers let loose with their constant battery of objections and “hearsay” calls, Heard’s lead lawyer Elaine Bredehoft introduced a post-detox text from Depp to Heard where the actor called his partner an ”angel” for helping him.

    “He never had to deal with the clean-up…he never had to deal with my face the next day,” a tearful Heard told the court later in her testimony.

    In her short stint on the stand so far, Heard has leveled a number of allegations of abuse, in many forms, against Depp – including sexual assault. The Black Mass actor’s drug and alcohol use sits at the heart of most of those allegations, with Depp turning into a self-described “monster” when under the influence. “I’m a f*cking savage,” Depp wrote Heard in a December 18, 2018 text.

    That “was the language he used after a particularly violent episode,” Heard explained to Judge Penny Azcarte, the jury and others in the Fairfax County Courthouse. “Sometime I don’t think he understood how much he could hurt me physically,” she added, admitting that she “yelled at him, screaming at him…it was awful.”

    “Nothing I did made him stop hitting me.”

    Throughout the trial, which began on April 11, Depp and his various paid witnesses have denied the actor had serious problem with booze and drugs. Claiming cocaine and other such intake had little actual effect on him — which kind of undermines the point of taking it — Depp has copped to an opioid addiction, which he says he conquered. He also has admitted that Heard was by his side during his 2014 detox and he was thankful for that.

    Still, from the moment he launched his March 2019 lawsuit against Heard over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed the actress wrote about being a survivor of domestic abuse, Depp has denied he abused Heard. Despite losing a 2020 UK libel suit against the tabloid The Sun for calling him a “wife-beater,” Depp continues to proclaim he is the victim of domestic abuse in the relationship with Heard – even though the couple’s very public and restraining order filled 2016 divorce indicated otherwise.

    The court in on its lunch break now. Today is the last day the trial will be in session this week and it will pause all the next week for a pre-scheduled conference Judge Azcarte is attending. Testimony will pick up again on May 16.

    PREVIOUSLY, 8:56 AM: Amber Heard alleged more instances of physical abuse by Johnny Depp today, painting a picture of a dream relationship turning into a nightmare as the actor descended into drug and alcohol binges.

    Just before a morning break on Thursday, the jury listened to an audio recording that Heard said she took of Depp on a May 24, 2014 private flight from Boston, in which Depp is heard moaning. Heard said he had locked himself in the bathroom aand “started howling like an animal.”

    Heard explained that she started recording because “in my experience, when Johnny was that inebriated, he would not remember what was done.”

    Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over a Washington Post op ed she wrote in 2018, in which she said that she had become “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Depp denies her claims of domestic abuse.

    Heard, who has countersued, took the stand on Wednesday, and has since been going through a narrative of their relationship, describing instances where Depp was emotionally a physically abusive to her.

    On the May, 2014 flight, she said, Depp was upset that she was doing a movie with James Franco, whom he despised, and that she had a love scene with him. At one point on the flight, Heard alleged that Depp started throwing ice cubes and utensils at her, “talking about what an embarrassment I am.” She said that she tried to avoid engaging with him, but “Johnny came to me each time.”

    “I was looking out the window and he slaps my face,” Heard said, looking at the jury most times as she testified.

    She said that a friend was in close proximity, and although the slap “didn’t hurt me,” “I was just embarrassed that he would do that in front of people.”

    Then, she said, as she went to move to the front of the plane, she turned away and “I feel this boot in my back. He just kicked me…I thought to myself. ‘I don’t know what to do.’ No one said anything. No one did anything. I felt so embarrassed that he could do that in front of people.”

    Heard also described an incident earlier that month, when they both attended the Met Gala. She said that at the dinner, Depp thought she was “looking at this woman in a sexual way.”

    In their hotel room afterward, she said, Depp shoved her and grabbed her by the area around her collar bone. She said that she then shoved him back, and “he threw a bottle at me. It missed me but broke the chandelier.” She said that they then had a struggle in the living room and he shoved her down on a sofa “and at some point he just whacks me in the face.”

    “I suspected I had a broken nose. Other than that I was relatively unscathed,” Heard said. As it turned out, she said, her nose was discolored.

    Depp again did not make eye contact with his ex-wife and instead looked down and appeared to be writing.

    Heard described how, in August, 2013, when Depp proposed to her, and the joy she felt. “I looked into his eyes and saw my future and hope, like blind hope.”

    “I thought if we were married, this is real, it’s not chaotic, this will change,” she said.

    The next March, they held an engagement party and invited a large group of family and friends. They walked in together but Depp “disappeared upstairs almost the entire party.” He was sharing drugs with her dad, Heard said.

    “My dad at the time was addicted to the same thing Johnny was,” she said. She said at one point her dad left with Depp’s security guard to get drugs in West Hollywood.

    “I tried to get Johnny to come downstairs and he just snapped at me, verbally told me to shut the f— up,” Heard said. “I remember talking to my mom about the irony of it.”

    Amber Heard Explicitly Details Alleged Sexual Assault By Johnny Depp In Trial Testimony; “I Just Stood There Looking At The Light,” Actress Says Of 2013 Attack

    (5/4/22) 2nd UPDATE, 1:58 PM: Going into sordid specifics, Amber Heard told the court in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against her of how the former Fantastic Beasts actor sexually assaulted her in 2013.

    “He’s grabbing my breast, he’s touching my thighs, he rips my underwear off and proceeds to do a cavity search …he shoves his fingers inside me,” a halting Heard told the court between tears after revealing how Depp pulled off her dress in anger.

    The incident occurred after Depp accused another woman of flirting with the bisexual Heard at the Hicksville trailer park out in the California desert “I just stood there looking at the light …I didn’t say stop or anything,” the actress added in one of the most emotionally charged instances of the trial that started on April 11.

    Having sued Heard in March 2019 over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed that she wrote about being a survivor of domestic abuse and never mentions the actor by name, Depp has always denied he was violent to his then wife, nor did he ever sexually assault her. In fact, the past Oscar nominee insisted that he was the abused one in the relationship.

    Having started their part of the case earlier this week, the defense has been laying out the alleged physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse first via clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Dawn Hughes and beginning today, Heard herself.

    Peppered tactically with tales of hanging dogs out of moving cars, Keith Richards and Tom Waits verbal cameos, seemingly substantial cocaine use and jealous rages destroying trailers, Heard’s testimony in the closing hours of Wednesday’s session saw the actress exclaim “I pride myself on being tough.”

    “I minimize it, “ she went on to say of the alleged violence in the relationship. However, in March of 2013 there were a number of incidents. After one occasion, Heard took a photo of a large bruise on her upper arm. In another instance, she talked about being hit in the face by Depp.

    “My lip went into my teeth and it got a little blood on the wall,” Heard noted, adding her then boyfriend “wears a lot of rings.” Later, in explaining a July 2013 yacht ride with Depp and his then teenage kids, the actress said of her nearby downcast Rum Diary co-star, “there’s no off button with Johnny.”

    “He could f*cking kill me, I’m an embarrassment,” an apparently shaken Heard said Depp allegedly told her as he was pushing her up against a cabin wall in the boat he was about to sell to author J.K. Rowling. Followed by “barely coherent text messages,” Heard soon left the yacht with Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose shamed by the supposedly drunken actor’s accusations that she had humiliated him in front of his children.

    Court ended a little early today, and Heard’s testimony will continue tomorrow. Traditionally dark on Fridays, the trial will pause all next week as Judge Penny Azcarte has a prior engagement to attend to. The proceedings will resume on May 16 with what is sure to be a brutal cross examination in the offering.

    UPDATE, 12:45 PM: “I will never forget it, it changed my life,” Amber Heard told a Virginia courtroom today of the first time Johnny Depp allegedly hit her in the winter of 2011.

    “I laughed, I thought he was joking and he slapped me across the face,” the often tearful actress said of the reaction from her then boyfriend as she inquired about a tattoo he had as the two were drinking together. “I laughed , because I didn’t know what else to do.”

    According to Heard, the pounding it back Depp said, “You think it’s funny, bitch?”

    Just like in Heard’s earlier testimony on Wednesday, the former Pirates of the Caribbean star barely looked at his frequently crying ex-wife as she spoke about their life together. Instead Depp seemed to be fixated on something on the table in front of him.

    “He slapped me again, it was clear it wasn’t a joke,” the Aquaman star added of the shock she felt at the time. “I didn’t move or freak out ..I just stared at him. And he slaps me one more time, hard.”

    “I’m all of a sudden realizing that the worst thing that could happen to me happened,” Heard said in her testimony as the second witness for the defense.

    Starting on April 11, the five week long trial stems from the $50 million defamation case Depp launched against his ex-wife in 2019 in reaction to a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed she penned on being a survivor of domestic violence.

    “I didn’t want to leave him,” Heard admitted today of that first act of violence over a decade ago as she laid on the “dirty” carpet at Depp’s residence.

    “I know you can’t come back from that, I’m not dumb,” the suited actress said under questioning Wednesday from her own lawyer.

    Remarking on the “velvety love” the duo had when things were good, Heard earlier pulled back the curtain on the couple’s relationship turning sour in and around 2012 with an allegedly heavily drinking Depp calling her a “whore,” denigrating her fashion choices and throwing objects and punches close to her. In her testimony, Heard also the judge, jurors and others in the Fairfax County Courthouse of how she became adroit at reacting to Depp depending on if he was allegedly was on “speed,” “cocaine,” “Adderall” or any other of seemingly pantheon of substances.

    Laying out more instances of alleged escalating abuse, “the rage this man had,” and Depp’s subsequent hyperbolic pledge like that he’d “rather cut my hand off than ever lay it on you,” Heard brought up a term the jury has heard before during his testimony and that of others. Heard said on one particular occasion in 2012 the sometimes “disappearing” Depp admitted to her knew he had a problem with booze and drugs. “I put that f*cker away, I killed that monster,” he told her, the latter term being frequently explained in prior testimony remarkably as referring to Depp’s sobriety, not his drinking and drugging.

    “I wanted to believe him, so I stayed, Heard told the court, “I believed there was a line and he wouldn’t cross it again.”

    PREVIOUSLY, 11:33 AM: “I am here because my ex-husband is suing me for an op-ed I wrote,” Amber Heard said today in Virginia within seconds of taking the witness stand in the trial of Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation suit.

    “I struggle to have the words to describe the words … this is horrible, sitting here for weeks and re-live everything,” the Aquaman star told her lead lawyer Elaine Bredehoft of the tales of violence and sexual assaults that have been brought up in the trial.

    “This is the most painful and difficult thing I’ve ever gone through, for sure,” Heard added as Judge Penny Azcarte, the jury and others looked on in the Fairfax County courtroom.

    Notably, unlike his boisterous stint on the stand, Depp did not watch his ex-wife deliver her testimony. Instead, seated between two of his attorneys, the sunglasses-wearing actor leaned over the table and seemed to be distinctly avoiding eye-contact by scribbling. He has been seen in past days to be making drawings while others gave testimony, though it was hard to tell if that was what he was doing Wednesday.

    Leaning in at the start to tell the jurors of her role as a mother now and her working-class childhood near Austin, Texas, Heard’s testimony comes more than three years after Depp sued her in March 2019 over a late-2018 Washington Post op-ed she wrote on being a survivor of domestic abuse. Although the piece in the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet never mentioned the past Oscar nominee by name, the already-litigious Depp insisted it was all about him, and that the article cost him big-bucks roles in Hollywood and essentially “devastated” his A-list career.

    Today Heard laid out her life up to coming to Hollywood in the first decade of the century.

    Saying she “worked her butt off,” Heard noted how she at first had “small roles in big movies.” Under questioning from Bredehoft, the actress began to detail meeting Depp for the first time in 2009 at an audition for The Rum Diary. That “remarkable” conversation was filled with talks of “books and poetry” and “old blues,” the actress noted to the court, indicating that she clearly was charmed by Depp. Soon after that meeting, Depp called Heard to offer her the role in the filmed based on his late pal Hunter S. Thompson’s writing.

    In her testimony, the actress spoke of making the movie in Puerto Rico and how a “flirtatious” vibe developed between the two — who both were in other relationships at the time. Calling it a “beautiful and strange time,” a sometime-tearful Heard also detailed a kiss they shared and how they first became involved in Los Angeles during the 2011 press tour for the film.

    Clearly that beautiful time when the duo were in their “bubble,” as Heard called it, and hanging out on Depp’s private Bahamas island did not last.

    To that, in a bit of a 180 from the couple’s contentious and restraining-order-defined 2016 divorce, Depp also declared in his 2019 lawsuit that it was he, not Heard, who was the victim of domestic abuse in the relationship. That, along with pounding the table figuratively on losing a potentially $22.5 million payout to be in the as-yet-unmade sixth Pirates of the Caribbean flick, has been the thrust of the case put forth by Depp’s legal crew since the Old Dominion-set and much-postponed trial started on April 11.

    While Heard’s Bredehoft and Ben Rottenborn-led defense team have sought to puncture Depp’s version of events in the admittedly chaotic marriage with tales of drug and booze usage as well as violence, they have been on the backfoot narratively for most of the five-week-long trial so far.

    Since suing Heard over the WaPo op-ed in 2019, Depp had a very unsuccessful attempt to go after Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun in the UK. Taking the tabloid to court in London for calling him a “wife-beater” in print, the ex-Pirates star lost that case in November 2020. While not a party in the case, Heard did testify.

    As was made evident early in Heard’s testimony today, that legal action on the other side of the pond looms to some degree over this Stateside case. Additionally, after failing herself on numerous occasions to get the $50 million defamation matter dismissed or move to another jurisdiction, Heard countersued Depp for $100 million in summer 2020.

    In that context and having been painted by the plaintiff’s side as an abuser suffering from borderline personality disorder both clinically and anecdotally, Heard initially was scheduled as the first defense witness. As Deadline reported exclusively this week, that strategy shifted after the defense team realized they need to redirect the jury’s perspective following the testimony last week by Depp-hired Dr. Shannon Curry damningly portrayed Heard as the perpetrator in the ex-couple’s difficulties. To that end, a clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Dawn Hughes took the stand Tuesday in front of the judge and jury as the first defense witness.

    Slicing at Curry’s diagnosis and approach, Hughes also delved into not only what she saw as Depp’s often-substance-fueled psychical, emotional and verbal violence but also repeated acts of sexual assault upon Heard.

    Heard’s testimony is expected to last the rest of the week. The trial runs Mondays to Thursdays, with court closed on Fridays. The case will pause next week as Azcarte has a previously scheduled conference to attend. Playing to the calendar, Heard’s team likely will try to run down the clock to delay cross examination until after the break.

    Amber Heard Alleged Sexual Assaults By Johnny Depp Detailed By Psychologist In $50M Defamation Trial

    (5/3/22) UPDATED, 1:38 PM: Amber Heard suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a clinical and forensic psychologist told a Virginia jury today in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against the Aquaman star over Heard’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic violence. In potentially damning testimony, Dr. Dawn Hughes also said that Heard repeatedly was “subjected to sexual violence” from Depp.

    “There are a number of incidents of sexual violence reported in this relationship,” Hughes testified. “Those are documented early on … where when Mr. Depp was drunk or high. He threw her on the bed, ripped off her nightgown and tried to have sex with her,” she specified. Hughes graphically exclaimed that when Depp was “not able to perform” during such instances, he would become even further “enraged.”

    “There were times when he forced her to give him oral sex when he was angry — these weren’t loving moments, these were angry moments,” the New York-based doctor additionally emphasized for Judge Penny Azcarte and the jurors, detailing other body penetration in a drug-fueled rage.

    “Moments of dominance, moments of him trying to get control over her,” Hughes asserted.

    In her testimony, the psychologist pointed out a particular alleged attack while the couple was in Australia for the filming of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie where a “I will kill you”-bellowing Depp put a bottle inside Heard’s body. In a calm voice, Hughes told the court that Heard told her later that at that moment of alleged assault, all she could think was she hoped the bottle Depp was penetrating her with “wasn’t the broken one.”

    Depp and his various lawyers always have denied any sexual violence by him in the couple’s relationship.

    “The intimate partner violence by Mr. Depp was the cause of Heard’s PTSD condition,” Hughes asserted on Tuesday in her opening testimony for the defense. Since before the high-profile couple’s media-spotlighted and restraining-order-filled divorce in 2016, Heard has alleged that her relationship with the drug- and booze-abusing Pirates star was marked by sexual, psychical, emotional and verbal violence.

    Depp “pushed Heard, he shoved her, he slapped her with the front of his hand and the back of his hand, he choked her, he slammed her into the wall, he pushed her, and when she fell down he kicked her in the back,” Hughes testified this afternoon in the fourth week of what is designated as a five-week trial. Hughes also emphasized Depp’s controlling nature and how it plagued Heard personally and professionally. Along with “whore” and anatomy-defining language, “ambitious” became an “derogatory” term from blockbuster leading man to Heard, Hughes said Tuesday.

    Often consulting her notes, and often having that process objected to by Depp’s side, Hughes told the court that she conducted a forensic evaluation of Heard, who has “never been a client” of the Manhattan-based psychologist. Board-certified Hughes informed the court that she saw Heard over 21.5 hours in NYC and in-person follow ups in January 2021 and one over Zoom in December 2021.

    Curtly disagreeing with previous Depp witness Dr. Shannon Curry — who evaluated the actress for 12 hours in 2021 — that Heard exaggerated her response and “feigned” trauma, Hughes also noted “I always approach a forensic evaluation with a healthy dose of skepticism.”

    Even with that caveat, Hughes informed Heard main lawyer Elaine Bredehoft that her “main opinion is that Ms. Heard’s report of intimate partner violence and the records I reviewed is consistent with what we know in the field about intimate partner violence, characterized by physical violence, psychological aggression, sexual violence, coercive control and surveillance behaviors.”

    Acknowledging later that there was some “mild violence” by Heard to Depp, Hughes added, “the second main opinion was that Ms. Heard demonstrated very clear psychological and traumatic effects … from those statements that Mr. Depp made through his attorney.” Those widely reported statements to the media and online by Depp wingman of sorts Adam Waldman are the core of the $100 million countersuit Heard launched in summer 2020.

    In what looks to be a disruption tactic, Depp’s Waldman-less legal team today was full of objections and requests to approach the judge during what seemed to be pivotal parts of Hughes’ testimony. That happened once just as Hughes started to offer her assessment of why Curry’s diagnosis of Heard having borderline personality disorder, a phrase Depp seems to have been using for years to describe his Rum Diary co-star, with a Depp attorney scurrying to the judge and proceedings grinding to a halt.

    After things resumed, Hughes said that no other therapist regularly seeing Heard labeled her with borderline personality disorder. She acknowledged that one therapist who saw Heard less frequently viewed the couple as both engaging in violence in the relationship. Hughes also said that at least two doctors worried that things could turn much worse for Heard if the violence from Depp wasn’t stopped.

    Going to the end of today’s session, Hughes will face what is sure to be a sharp-elbowed cross examination on Wednesday. Heard is anticipated to take the stand later tomorrow. Heard’s testimony for sure will go to the end of the week and pick up on May 16 after the court goes dark for a scheduled one-week pause.

    PREVIOUSLY, 12:14 PM: Amber Heard’s defense in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation trial against his ex-wife kicked off today with bracing testimony on the danger signs of domestic abuse.

    Collected in her tone and words in the Virginia courtroom after the lunch break Tuesday, Dr. Dawn Hughes only mentioned the Pirates of the Caribbean actor and Aquaman actress once in passing in the first part of her time on the stand , but it was clear to all the building blocks the psychologist specializing in violence, abuse and traumatic stress was putting in place in chronicling “the cycle of violence” and rising levels of abuse, including “sexual assault.”

    In opening arguments in mid-April, Heard’s lawyers dramatically told Judge Penny Azcarte, the jury and other onlookers that out of the anger-, drug- and booze-fueled behavior by the past Oscar nominee there was at least one sexual assault upon the actress by Depp during their 2013-16 relationship.

    With near-expressionless Heard and a downcast Depp both looking on, Hughes methodically laid out under questioning from lead defense lawyer Elaine Bredehoft the criteria and patterns of domestic violence, psychical, verbal, emotional and sexual. Correspondingly, noting power dynamics and “gender symmetry,” the clinical and forensic psychologist detailed the “love bombing” response where gifts and other effusive behavior from a man follows abusive outbursts. Trying to take the sting out of audio tapes and Depp witness testimony the past two week on Heard’s own behavior Hughes made a point of noting that “woman may yell at her partner because she is angry” from being abused.

    Highlighting “the appearance of normalcy,” Hughes aimed to puncture the expected common reactions to the “trauma” of abuse. The inside doesn’t match the outside,” Hughes said of the powerful role repression plays for many women who have been abused or are being abused.

    “It very difficult for people to stand up and say something,,” she went on to tell Bredehoft of how family, friends and employees’ hesitancy to get involved in a couple’s abusive patterns “even if they see a trashed window or a bruise.“ “You have to examine context,” Hughes went on to say. Seeking to pull out another quiver in Depp’s team’s arsenal, the medical professional confirmed that women can become violent, often in situations of self-defense. She added that “we have to be careful” not the dismiss that there can be abuse of men by women, as well as abuse within same-sex relationships. However, citing the statistics, she stressed the overwhelming majority of abusive and even fatal cases in America in 2022 are men hurting women. Brought on as the defense’s first witness, as Deadline exclusively reveled yesterday, NYC-based and board certified Hughes’ primary role in the case is to refute the testimony and diagnosis of Depp witness Dr. Shannon Curry. On the stand last week and holding her own pretty well under cross examination, Curry told the court that in her opinion Heard has both borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. Hired by Team Depp as an expert witness, L.A.-based Curry’s take on the Aquaman actress is based mostly on a single 12-hour session between Curry and Heard late last year.

    As noted by Heard’s attorneys, the not-board-certified Curry’s evaluation of Heard having BPD in 2021 exactly matches the unofficial diagnosis that Depp hurled at his then-partner in an argument from several years ago — an audio tape of which was played for the jury last week.

    In the trench warfare that the trial has become in its fourth week, blunting the claws of a negative clinical profile of their client is a clear top priority for Heard’s s Bredehoft- and Ben Rottenborn-led legal team. Washing off any taint that Curry’s opinion may have put on the actress could significantly assist in resetting the narrative and tone of Heard herself to the jury before she takes the stand to tell her version of events.

    The much-delayed five-week long trial that started on April 11 all stems from Depp’s March 2019 defamation suit over the late 2018 Washington Post op-ed that Heard penned on being a survivor of domestic abuse. Even though the op-ed never mentioned Depp by name, the actor insisted that his ex-wife’s words were all about him and cost him big and well-paying roles. In fact, as has been evident throughout this case in the Fairfax County Courthouse, Depp says that he was the actual victim of abuse in the relationship with Heard, not her.

    Of course, as effective or not as that line of argument has been for Depp and his legal team so far and the power of testimony from employees of his that a raging Heard swung at him more than once, two issues hobble them scoring a home run.

    Firstly, Depp and Heard had a very public and restraining order defined divorce in 2016, which brought many of the issues of abuse as well as the actor’s booze and drug use into the public square. So, as much as the ACLU and others might have wished otherwise, Heard’s op-ed was old news on one level. Secondly, despite Depp’s ex-CAA agent and current talent manager Jack Whigham’s testimony that Depp has an option deal for $22.5 million for a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film, the plaintiff’s side can’t produce any paperwork or confirmation from Disney of such an agreement. On the other hand, after a disruptive and sometimes bloody stint for Depp on 2017’s Dead Men Tells No Tales, the defense put forth a variety of articles and inferences that the actor had been cut loose from the Jerry Bruckheimer-EP’d franchise. Under questioning from Rottenborn during his own time on the stand, Depp admitted that even if Disney offered him “$300 million” and more, he wouldn’t want to return to make another Pirates flick.

    Following a standard and essentially required practice in the Old Dominion’s judicial system, Heard’s team put forth a motion to strike after Depp’s case was concluded. As was expected, Judge Penny Azcarate rejected the motion and moved the case forward. The judge did not offer a ruling today on whether a defamation claim should survive regarding one of Heard’s tweets of the 2018 WaPo op-ed.

    However, with the jury out of the room, the remarks by Depp lawyer Ben Chew over the motion and his pointing at nearby Heard left a bad taste with some on the other side. “Counsel was insulting,” a source close to Heard told Deadline today after the incident. “Counsel was condescending. Counsel was not telling the real story.”

    “We want it to stop. We want it to stop for Amber, and she wants it to stop for all women who speak up … or write op-eds,” the individual added.

    In the context of stopping, before the trial began, Heard tried repeatedly to get the case dismissed or moved to another jurisdiction. Failing that, even before Depp lost his 2020 UK libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater,” Heard filed a $100 million countersuit nearly two years ago.

    Having been in court every day for the past four weeks, Heard is on track to be the second defense witness and begin her testimony tomorrow. Running Monday to Thursdays, the trial will hit the pause button next week as Judge Azcarte has a previously scheduled conference to attend.

    That break could prove a benefit or a hindrance to the defense depending on where things are at the end of Thursday’s session. It seems obvious that the defense would want to avoid cross examination of Heard starting before the break in order to keep the ball and timeline in their court going into the trial’s final week – or not.

    Johnny Depp’s New Movie Will Be On Sale At The Cannes Market, Actor Will Play French King Louis XV

    (5/3/22) Johnny Depp’s new movie Jeanne Du Barry will be launched for pre-sales at this month’s Cannes market, marking a first narrative feature for the actor in more than three years.

    In a report from ScreenDaily about Wild Bunch’s Cannes market slate, the trade confirms previous reports that Depp will star alongside Maïwenn in the French period drama about Jeanne Bécu, a woman born into poverty but who rose through the ranks of the court of King Louis XV to become his mistress. Depp will play Louis XV (nicknamed ‘Louis The Beloved’) opposite actress and filmmaker Maïwenn who will also direct.

    Louis Garrel, Pierre Richard and Noemie Lvovsky are also set to star. A start date has yet to be revealed.

    Depp is currently in the middle of a protracted and messy legal battle with his former wife Amber Heard. The three-time Oscar nominee hasn’t acted in a narrative feature since Minamata in early 2019 and since that time has described himself as a victim of cancel culture.

    The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor lost a libel case in 2020 against UK tabloid The Sun, which referred to him as a “wife beater” while covering his divorce from Heard. Shortly after the ruling he was replaced in Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise. Since then his only film and TV work has been to voice web series Puffins Impossible.

    According to Screen, Wild Bunch’s typically packed Cannes slate will also include the new film from British legend Ken Loach. The Old Oak will be set in the north of England in a former coal-mining village that has never fully recovered from the closure of the mines. Filming is due to get underway later this month.

    Wild Bunch will be in Cannes with a whopping 14 movies in Official Selection and other sidebars. Competition titles comprise Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, Arnaud Desplechin’s Brother And Sister, Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N., Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Tori And Lokita and Claire Denis’s Stars At Noon.

    In the report, there is no mention of Roman Polanski’s new film The Palace, which Wild Bunch is handling for sales, indicating that the project isn’t a priority for the company at this market or that they don’t want to create noise around it. We have reached out to the French seller.

    Judge Rejects Amber Heard’s Motion To Toss Out Johnny Depp’s Defamation Case

    (5/3/22) The judge presiding over Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit rejected Amber Heard’s motion to toss out the case.

    Penny Azcarate said that sufficient evidence had been presented by Depp’s lawyers to keep the case ongoing.

    Heard’s motion to strike is almost a formality after plaintiffs’ wrap up their case, and it was expected that Azcarate would reject such an effort.

    Attorneys for both sides presented oral arguments on the motion on Tuesday morning, without the jury present. For Heard’s legal team, the motion’s primary point is to assure certain appeal rights to the defense if necessary.

    Depp sued his ex-wife over a 2018 Washington Post op ed headlined, “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” Heard wrote that “two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.”

    Although Depp is not named in the op ed, his attorneys argue that there was enough of a connection to Heard’s 2016 claims that he physically abused her.

    Azcarate noted that “if there is a scintilla of evidence that a reasonable juror could weigh, then the matter survives a motion to strike.” She said that there was “evidence that jurors could weigh that the statements were about the plaintiff, that the statements were published and that the statement was false, and that the defendant made the statement knowing it to be false or that the defendant made it so recklessly as to amount to willful disregard for the truth. The weight of that evidence is up to the fact finders.” She said that she would not yet rule on whether a defamation claim should survive regarding one of Heard’s tweets.

    Heard’s team had no comment on the judge’s ruling.

    Earlier in the morning, Michael Spindler, an economic damages expert, testified that Depp “suffered lost earnings of approximately $40 million” over an almost two year period following the publication of the op ed. That included $20.3 million, after agency commissions, from the loss of playing Jack Sparrow in a Pirates 6, as well as $20.1 million from booking for non franchise films. Under questioning from Heard’s attorney, Spindler acknowledged that he was not offering testimony on whether the loss of earnings was caused by Heard’s op ed.

    Amber Heard Expected To File Motion To Toss Johnny Depp $50M Case; “Required” Move Expected To Fail

    (5/2/22) Attorneys for Amber Heard are planning to ask a Virginia judge on Tuesday to dismiss Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation case against their client. However, the defense team is almost certain to come up short, and they know it.

    Under the statutes of the Old Dominion, lawyers for the defense in civil cases essentially are “required,” as one legal source told us, to enter a motion to strike once the plaintiff has wrapped up their case and witnesses.

    Zeroing in on the specific claims of plaintiff Depp and evidence presented to support said claims, Heard’s legal team led by Elaine Bredehoft and Ben Rottenborn likely will make the motion Tuesday before Judge Penny Azcarate to agree with, reject or take under advisement, we hear.

    With the jury taken out of the courtroom, lawyers for both sides will have an allotted short(ish) time to make their points to Azcarte. After that, unless she makes the unlikely decision to ax the case, the judge will tell the attorneys she’s either immediately refusing the motion to strike or taking some time to think about it. She then will call the jury back in for the defense to commence its case.

    Pretty much assured to be unsuccessful in this high-profile matter, the motion’s primary point is to assure certain appeal rights to the defense if necessary. Reps for Heard and her lawyers had no comment on the probable move when contacted by Deadline today.

    Depp sued his ex-wife and Rum Diary co-star for big bucks in March 2019 after Heard penned a Washington Post op-ed about be a survivor of domestic abuse. As all sides have stated and anyone who can read can see, the 2018 piece in the Jeff Bezos-owned paper never mentioned Depp by name. Delayed by the pandemic and other issues, the case was challenged several times by Heard to little avail before the five-week trial kicked off on April 11 in the Fairfax County Courthouse.

    In summer 2020, the Aquaman star countersued Depp for $100 million. Later that same year, in another wrinkle in the legal fabric, Depp failed in his UK libel suit against The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife-beater” in print.

    Perpetually at the periphery of the Virginia trial, that British case was in many ways a trial run – no pun totally intended – to the current American case. While the burden of proof is much higher in the US for the litigious Depp than the UK for a libel or defamation claim, the British case mainly differs from the current one in so far as Heard was not a party in the case overseas – though she did testify.

    “This is the same evidence given in the UK case which he resoundingly lost,” a source close to the Heard camp told Deadline of their POV on the way the Ben Chew and Camille Vasquez-led US case has played out so far. “So I supposed it’s now just a variation on that old saying ‘If at first, you don’t succeed, lie lie again,'” the source added.

    Despite all the explicit revelations that have come out from the end of the couple’s marriage, the 2019 lawsuit and this trial so far, this case is legally entirely about what was said in that WaPo op-ed, and what the fallout was – which in no small degree centers on the First Amendment.

    In Virginia, Heard is set right now to be the second witness for the defense after clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Dawn Hughes takes the stand. Often wearing sunglasses, Depp took the stand on his own behalf for part of the second and third week of the trial. Big names like Avengers alum Paul Bettany, James Franco and would-be Twitter owner Elon Musk were on pre-trial witness lists for the respective parties.

    Last week it became clear Bettany would not be called, despite a toxic mouthful of 2013 texts between the WandaVision actor and Depp attacking Heard were read out in court here, as they were in the UK action. Franco and Musk are not expected to take the stand in person or virtually either now.

    What will undoubtedly come up again is Depp’s insistence that Heard’s WaPo op-ed “devastated” his career and cost him lucrative roles in top tier movies such as a still yet-unmade sixth Pirates of the Caribbean flick — even though it seems he was never officially asked to return to the Disney distributed franchise.

    As his lawyers have pressed in the five-week trial that started on April 11, Depp has said over and over since mid-2019 that in fact he was the victim of domestic abuse in the relationship, not Heard. Of note, Depp and Heard’s 2016 divorce was characterized by such allegations on her part and a restraining order against the past Oscar nominee. Yet, even after releasing a joint statement on the end of the relationship, Depp never brought up such topics publicly until after the op-ed was published.

    With testimony via video link and live in the courtroom, including a security guard who said he saw Heard punch Depp in 2015, the plaintiff’s side inched towards the end of its case on Monday. The day’s session ended with a February 4 2022 video deposition from Erin Falati, also known under her maiden name Erin Boerum, who was a former nurse to the couple. Apparently, the last witness for the plaintiff, the deposition of Heard’s former personal nurse will pick up on Tuesday morning.

    Amber Heard Legal Team Shifts Tactics As Actress Prepares To Testify; Johnny Depp Had $22.5M ‘Pirates 6’ Deal, Manager Claims

    (5/2/22) Amber Heard will now be the second witness for the defense as her team shifts tactics in the $50 million defamation trial with Johnny Depp.

    The Aquaman star had been set as the opening witness in the defense case, as Deadline exclusively revealed last week. However, as is not unusual in such trials, events have pushed a shift in approach. After the testimony of forensic psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry on behalf of Depp on April 26, Heard’s legal team led by Elaine Bredehoft and Ben Rottenborn have decided to put clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Dawn Hughes on the stand in Fairfax County, VA first on Tuesday.

    Heard is now scheduled to follow Hughes’ testimony in the defense’s case this week, we heard. Reps for Heard had no comment on the schedule change when contacted by Deadline today.

    Heard’s and Hughes’ respective testimony comes in what is now the fourth week of a scheduled five-week trial that started April 11. Stemming from Depp’s March 2019 lawsuit based on Heard’s late 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence, the much delayed proceedings will go dark next week as Judge Penny Azcarate has a previously arranged conference to attend.

    Hired by Depp and his attorneys after a meet-and-greet dinner at the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s Los Angeles home, the non-board-certified Curry told the court last week that in her opinion Heard has Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder. That estimation is primarily based on a single 12-hour session between Curry and Heard late last year.

    Pressed hard by Heard’s side, Curry was relatively composed under cross examination. Still, Heard’s team made sure to emphasis that Curry’s Borderline Personality Disorder opinion is word-for-word the same as labels Depp has been heard slamming Heard with on audio tapes played for the jury and Azcarate from arguments between the couple.

    Cited as an expert in “treating victims of intimate partner violence,” Hughes has made her own evaluation of Heard, we understand. On the stand after the Depp side ends their part of the case, Hughes will offer insights on that evaluation in what is expected to be clear contradiction to Curry’s opinion on the actress’ mental health.

    The change in the witness schedule comes as Heard moved over the weekend to Shane Communications to handle her media and PR needs out of the contentious trial. Replacing Precision Strategies, as was first reported in the New York Post on Sunday, CEO David Shane comes to this litigation well versed in most things Depp. The well-regarded flack worked with Depp’s ex-business managers The Management Group when the actor sued them in a $25 million fraud suit. That January 2017-initiated action ended suddenly in July 2018 with a confidential settlement mere weeks before it was set to go to trial.

    Back in session Monday morning, the Fairfax County Courthouse heard from Depp’s former CAA agent and current talent manager Jack Whigham. Under questioning by Depp’s side via live video link, the suited and booted Whigham outlined for the court how Depp had a $22.5 million deal in place to appear in the as yet still unmade sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film. (UPDATED, 9:10 AM: Waffling under sharp cross examination from Bredehoft, Whigham admitted that “it would be fair to say I have not seen a document” on Depp joining Pirates 6 and “I have not seen $22.5 million written on a page.” At one point, Whigham tried to pass responsibility to Depp’s former lawyer Jacob Bloom. A nice move being that Depp successfully sued the now-retired Bloom a few years a go for millions the attorney had made off the actor’s deals.)

    The Pirates 6 figure and statement are particularly noteworthy as Depp is alleging that Heard’s op-ed “devastated”” his career and cost him well-paying roles.

    Heard’s team has pressed to prove that Depp had already been sidelined from additional Pirates movies with Disney after his problematic behavior on 2017’s installment Dead Men Tell No Tales. They also confirmed with Depp himself during the actor’s testimony that he wouldn’t go back to the franchise even if Disney paid him “$300 million” and more.

    On Monday, now Range Media Partners exec Whigham said the $22.5 million payout optional deal for Depp on Pirates 6 had “closed” with the help of CAA overlord Bryan Lourd and others before Heard’s op-ed was published. Calling the op-ed “catastrophic” to Deep’s ongoing career prospects, Whigham went on to say that in early 2019, he learned that Disney “were going in a different direction” and would no longer be working with the past Oscar nominee on the still not-yet-made film.

    Opening the ledger, Whigham also told the court how the supposedly cash-strapped Depp was paid $8 million for City of Lies in 2017, $10 million for his performance in 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, $13.5 million for 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and $1 million for the 2019 indie Waiting for the Barbarians.

    Previously today, as both Depp and Heard sat watching, the court heard from another Depp security guard.

    Travis McGivern told the jury and others in attendance of an incident in March 2015 where Heard allegedly threw a Red Bull can at her then-husband in a dispute at their downtown L.A. residence. Later that same night McGiern said Heard hit Depp with a “closed fist” as the dispute continued.

    Acknowledging Depp’s frequent drug use a decade or so ago, McGivern remarkably stated that cocaine has an effect on Depp unlike almost anyone else in history. “It levels him out,” the security guard said. McGivern also told the court he had seen Heard “push” Depp, but not necessarily be physically abusive.

    Still, in the employment of the Pirates actor, the bearded McGivern spoke to the Virginia court via a sometimes glitchy video link from L.A. The remarks McGivern gave today are similar to what he told a UK court back in 2020 during Depp’s unsuccessful libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling the actor a “wife-beater” in print.

    The trial continues Monday with cross examination of Whigham. More witnesses for the Depp side will also participate in the proceedings later today before their case is expected to wrap.

    Amber Heard Set To Testify As First Defense Witness Next Week In Johnny Depp $50M Defamation Trial

    (4/28/22) Amber Heard will take the stand next week as the first witness for her defense in the $50 million defamation trial instigated by Johnny Depp.

    The Aquaman actress could begin her testimony in the Fairfax County Courthouse as soon as Monday, once Depp’s team finish their case, we hear.

    Before the April 11 start of the much-delayed five-week trial in Virginia, Heard tried unsuccessfully on numerous occasions to have the suit filed in March 2019 by her ex-husband and Run Diary co-star dismissed or moved to another jurisdiction. In summer 2020, the actress filed a $100 million countersuit against Depp.

    There is a chance that Heard’s time on the stand could be changed if a substantial shift occurs in the plaintiff’s closing witnesses, we’re told. But that is seen as unlikely at this late in the game.

    Representatives for Heard had no comment when contacted by Deadline about the actress’ testimony schedule. “It’s hard to see how Amber won’t prove to be a highly effective weapon against Depp in her own advocacy,” an industry insider with connections to both camps did tell Deadline. “Regardless of how they have tried to characterize her, she has been nothing but well composed and pretty conservative in court without having said a word.”

    Repeatedly and vehemently denying Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse at his hand during their relationship, the former Pirates of the Caribbean star spent four days giving testimony in the highly charged matter. While often long winded and full of non sequiturs, as well as prickly under cross examination, Depp’s April 25-concluding stint on the stand sought not only to hobble Heard’s claims but also assert that the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas actor was the real victim of domestic abuse.

    Depp also has insisted that Heard’s claims during their restraining order-filled 2016 divorce and the late-2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic abuse that sparked his lawsuit cost him lucrative roles like in the as-yet-unmade sixth Pirates film. That contention was challenged by Heard’s lawyers. In fact, Depp himself revealed in his testimony that he would not return to the Disney-based franchise even if he were offered “$300 million” and more. The actor also quipped in an aside that his now-ex got her role in Aquaman thanks to him.

    Along with Depp, Heard long has been set to give live testimony in the Old Dominion trial, just like both of them did in the past Oscar nominee’s failed 2020 UK libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife-beater.” Unlike the trial on the other side of the Atlantic, Heard is an actual party in this case.

    James Franco and would-be Twitter owner Elon Musk, who came up today in court, were on the witness list submitted by Heard’s team last month before the trial began. Whether they actually are called to testify remains unknown. Avengers alum and Depp drinking buddy Paul Bettany was on his pal’s witness list, but wasn’t called to the stand despite the violent and threatening 2013 text exchange between the two getting a lot of time in the limelight of the trial.

    The Virginia trial runs Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to around 5 p.m. ET, with both the often-sunglasses-wearing Depp and Heard in attendance and seated with their respective attorneys. The trial is dark on Fridays. Judge Penny Azcarate has a prescheduled conference to attend from May 9-12, so the trial will pause over that week.

    Following pre-recorded testimony from a representative of the ACLU, today saw Depp’s accountant Ed White involved in a barbed back and forth with defense lawyer Ben Rottenborn over the state of his client’s depleted finances in 2015.

    Despite their differences on the “catastrophic” state of multimillionaire Depp’s cashflow, the circumspect White confirmed in his live testimony that Depp was “delinquent” in his taxes to the tune of some very big bucks, as the actor looked on stern faced. Refuting to some extent one of the plaintiff’s side’s main thrusts against Heard, White also admitted on the stand that the Aquaman star always was intending to give her the charitable donations of her $7 million divorce settlement in installments and not lump sums.

    Other witnesses today included a number of members of Depp’s security staff from over the years. All predictably testified, as best they could, that the actor, who was grinning watching his former employees, never really laid hands on the “feisty” and “demanding” Heard or anyone else.

    Speaking to the courtroom over a live video feed from the UK this afternoon, Depp’s longtime security guard Malcolm Connolly detailed the “chaos” he witnessed and Heard “berating” Depp at the couple’s rented Australia home in 2015.

    During the already-stormy filming of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie down under, part of Depp’s right hand middle finger was sliced off on March 7 of that year. How that bloody severing occurred has been a matter of dispute between the Depp and Heard camps. Depp says Heard threw a bottle of vodka at him and broken glass cut him. Heard claims that an enraged Depp slammed a “hard plastic phone” against a wall and cut himself in the process.

    At one point Thursday, there was a kerfuffle over the playing of an audio tape from that night in Australia with the plaintiff’s side not wanting the piece of their own evidence made public to the jury and courtroom. Judge Azcarate noted it was entered evidence and hence could be used. The brief snippet of the tape revealed a raging Depp, clearly screaming at Heard. Lawyers for Heard also contended that Connolly was not paying attention to the actress’ condition or potentially bruised appearance as the security guard was primarily concerned with trying to get Depp out of the house and eventually to a doctor.

    Thursday’s session ended just before 5:30 p.m. ET with more testimony from the plaintiff’s witnesses coming Monday.

    Johnny Depp Lost ‘Pirates’ Role Because Of Amber Heard’s Abuse Claims, CAA Agent Tells $50M Defamation Trial – Update

    (4/27/22) UPDATED, 12:59 PM: Johnny Depp lost any chance at staying in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise because of domestic violence allegations by Amber Heard, the actor’s former CAA agent testified today at the $50 million defamation trial.

    “My opinion is it was related to the accusations that Amber has made,” Christian Carino told the Virginia courtroom Wednesday in a pre-recorded video deposition. Admitting he hadn’t actually spoken to anyone at Pirates distributor Disney except EP Jerry Bruckheimer, the CAA agent said he based his take on “conversations with colleagues and studios executives … internal and external.”

    “It is something within the industry that is understood,” Carino emphasized as to Depp’s loss of the lucrative Pirates gig because of the long-festering abuse claims. Under cross examination, Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft made a distinct point of clarifying that Pirates EP Bruckheimer never told Carino that Depp was not being asked back to the franchise because of the abuse allegations by the actress — a point Carino copped to.

    Depp’s stint on the 2017 Pirates sequel Dead Men Tell No Tales was filled with well-documented issues on the Australia set. Carino said today that Depp often was “tardy” but added: “He’s been tardy on everything his entire life. Everyone has learned how to produce a film, how to deal with it.” He said nothing much about other issues and delays, including when Depp severed part of one of his fingers and production shut down for a stint.

    Following the March 2019 big-bucks lawsuit Depp launched against his ex-wife based on a Washington Post op-ed she penned on being a victim of domestic abuse, the man who portrayed Capt. Jack Sparrow over five films has insisted that Heard’s direct and implied allegations “destroyed” his career. Part of that destruction was him losing a possible role in the yet-to-be-made Pirates 6.

    Since the five-week trial started on April 11, and even before in filings, both sides have disputed that argument. In many ways it has come down to a matter of timelines, with Heard’s defense team putting forth evidence that Depp was not welcome back at the Pirates franchise even before the op-ed was published – an op-ed that never actually mentioned Depp by name. Correspondingly, Depp admitted on the stand in the Fairfax County Courthouse during the past week that he would not want to return to the Pirates franchise even if Disney offered him “$300 million” and more. In the video played today, Depp’s lawyers displayed an article from just days after the op-ed was printed that Carino was emailed from Depp’s then-PR team citing him suddenly losing a chance to be a part of Pirates 6.

    In his testimony today as a witness for Depp, Carino said that those internal chats he referenced earlier were with the likes of agency bigwig Bryan Lourd and the now-departed Jack Whigham.

    Depp left his longtime agency of UTA and signed with CAA not long after his marriage to Heard ended in 2016. In the initial January 2021 video deposition, Carino appeared in a mirrored room, wearing a hat and T-shirt — a disheveled-chic look not uncommon in the industry but less so in testimony run during a Virginia trial. The agent hardly seemed happy to be there; at one point he looked away as Heard’s attorney pressed him with questions.

    Along with the jury, Judge Penny Azcarate, the lawyers and others, Depp and Heard were in court today watching the Carino video and other witnesses.

    Johnny Depp Ends Testimony Proclaiming He’s Victim Of Domestic Abuse; $50M Defamation Trial Expected To Hear From Amber Heard In Next Few Weeks –

    In a second video deposition from March 11 this year, under questioning from Depp’s team, Carino was without a hat and seated in a much more conservative environment with a Pop Art piece in the background. Carino actually repped Heard before Depp and, for a short period of time, repped both. CAA and Depp parted ways in 2020 after the actor left to follow Whigham to the newly formed Range Media Partners management company

    Today in his pre-recorded deposition, Carino said that his friendship with Depp ended when the past Oscar nominee left CAA. Noting that he remained close with both Rum Diary stars even during their rocky and restraining-order-defined divorce, the agent said he ceased being friends with the now-WME-repped Aquaman actress when “the legal dispute began.”

    Over the past several years, Depp has been involved in a number of additional legal actions, including suing his ex-business managers and his former lawyer Jacob Bloom as well as being accused of striking a crew member on the City of Lies set. The first two cases have been resolved, one in a confidential settlement and the other in a loss to Bloom. The latter case remains before the courts in Los Angeles.

    Carino also testified that Heard wanted to set up a meeting with Depp to reconcile after she obtained a restraining order against him in May, 2016. The meeting took place in San Francisco, but there was no resolution.

    Carino’s testimony is expected to end today. The court will be in session tomorrow but closed on Friday, as has been the case since it started this month. A deposition from Laura Wasser, Depp’s divorce attorney, also was expected to run.

    PREVIOUSLY, 11:41 AM: Two Los Angeles Police Department officers testified Wednesday about what they saw when they responded to separate 911 calls to come to the downtown penthouse on May 21, 2016, the night that Amber Heard claims that Johnny Depp beat her in a confrontation in the waning days of their marriage.

    The Fairfax, VA, jury was shown the bodycam footage of Officer William Gatlin, who was among the officers who responded to the Eastern Columbia building later that evening. Gatlin said that he did not observe “any verifiable injuries to her.” But Heard’s attorney questioned him on how he could make that determination given the low level of lighting in the penthouse. She also questioned him on why he didn’t ask Heard to come forward so he could examine her more closely. Two officers had responded to a 911 call earlier in the evening, but they left without filing a report. Heard’s attorneys have pressed the officers on why they did not take a report and whether they followed proper procedure. Instead, they left a business card and wrote “met with victim — victim advised verbal” on their log entry.

    “After discussing the investigation with my partner at the scene, Miss Heard refused any medical treatment and had no visible injuries,” said Officer Tyler Hadden, who was one of the two officers who first responded to the 9/11 call of domestic violence.

    “There was no sign of struggle … and the witness that was there that I spoke with was uncooperative as well.”

    Bredehoft pressed Gatlin on how certain he could be that he didn’t see Heard with injuries. He said that Heard was “crying and had a red face.” Bredehoft, though, tried to show that he failed to spot damage in the building, a stain in the hallway.

    Later in the morning, Depp appeared smiling and amused as testimony was played from Alejandro Romero, who was posted at the front desk of the Eastern Columbia building. Romero, appearing in his vehicle, said that after he saw Heard after the May 21 incident, he “didn’t recall [seeing] marks or bruises.” But Bredehoft repeatedly asked him about other aspects of her appearance, like whether she was wearing makeup or what she was wearing, and he repeatedly testified that he could not recall. At one point, Romero admitted, “I don’t want to deal with this court case, everyone has got problems — I don’t want to deal with no more.

    On Wednesday afternoon, the jury will see a Jan. 19, 2021 deposition from Christian Carino, former CAA agent for Depp and Heard.

    Johnny Depp Trial Hears LAPD Officer Proclaim Amber Heard Not “A Victim Of Domestic Violence”; Psychologist Queried Over Evaluation Of ‘Aquaman’ Star

    (4/26/22) What actually went down at Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s downtown LA penthouse six years ago was back in the spotlight today in the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s $50 million defamation case against his ex-wife.

    With Depp, Heard, the jury and everyone else in the packed Virginia courtroom watching the video monitors, LAPD Officer Melissa Saenz bluntly said that “I did not identify her (Heard) as a victim of domestic violence.”

    Under questioning by the defense team, the March 21021 deposition showed the 12-year LAPD vet detailing her experience entering and observing the couple’s South Broadway home around 9 PM PT on May 21, 2016. At the conclusion of that short-ish visit, Officer Saenz did not file a report but cited the incident as “closed” because there was, in her opinion, no crime.

    In the pre-recorded video Saenz admitted that neither she nor her partner took any notes or took any photos of the call to the Depp-Heard home. She also admitted Heard was “red-eyed,” “crying,” red faced and not making eye contact when they arrived. While saying she had no idea who the residents were, the LAPD officer said she was “impressed” by the penthouse and recognized it belonged to someone wealthy. It’s worth noting that in Depp’s failed 2020 libel suit against the UK newspaper The Sun, Saenz’s testimony was pretty much sidelined for the lack of notes and photos and assumptions about the cause of the state of Heard’s face.

    An elevator video of the two officers leaving the penthouse caused some friction between Heard’s lawyer and Saenz in the 2021 deposition with the latter denying she told her partner “that was crazy.”

    Both Saenz and her trainee partner Officer Tyler Hadden gave depositions in Depp and Herd’s 2016 divorce proceedings on what they saw and deduced from being on the scene at the then couple’s DTLA residence on May 21, 2016 in response to a call from LAPD dispatch.

    In that July 2016 deposition, a mere two months after the incident at Depp and Heard’s place, Saenz said that she “interviewed Ms. Heard and “closely examined her face and found no marks, swelling, or injury to her face.” Six years ago, Saenz said that Heard “told her she was not hurt, nor was Ms. Heard making a complaint against Mr. Depp.”

    The playing of Saenz year old deposition continues with attorneys for Depp questioning her next and then some cross examination. The playing of that portion of the video will likely take the court until past 5 PM ET, which traditionally is around the time when Judge Penny Azcarate ends the day.

    Tomorrow will likely be packed with more depositions from LAPD officers and people who worked at the DTLA building where Depp and Heard lived in 2016, we hear.

    Earlier today, the not board certified forensic psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry told the court as a part of Depp’s argument that she considered Heard to have Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder. Hired by Depp’s legal team after a dinner at the actor’s home with them, him and Depp’s right-hand man and former attorney Adam Waldman, Curry made her diagnosis based in bulk on a 12 hour session with the actress late last year.

    She said that she provided Heard with a test that gave out 567 statements which she had to answer true or false. Curry went on to say that others with similar scores as Heard showed traits such as externalization of blame, inner anger and hostility. She told the court that those with borderline disorder “can react violently, they can react aggressively.

    “Often times they will be abusive to their partners in these situations,” Curry noted. She also said that they can use what she called “administrative violence,” or making threats that they will use the legal system such as filing for a restraining order by claiming abuse.

    In cross examination after Tuesday’s lunch break, Head lawyer Elaine Bredehoft took Newport Beach-based Curry to task for her perceived closeness to the Depp camp and the “coincidence” of her diagnosis exactly matching the taunts that the Edward Scissorhands actor directed at Heard, as was played for the court in audio recordings yesterday.

    With Bredehoft reading from the psychologist’s deposition of earlier this year, Curry also confirmed that she has never concluded or arrived at an opinion that Ms. Heard “exhibits patterns of behavior that suggests her allegations of abuse against Mr. Depp are false.” Designation documents submitted by the Depp team suggested otherwise, as the defense lawyer took no small pleasure in pointing out.

    The three to four hour long dinner and meeting that Curry had at Depp’s house before being retained was repeatedly a topic under cross examination. Specifically, how “highly irregular” taking such a meeting in such a setting and the gathering itself not being revealed in any documents in relation to Curry’s expert role in the plaintiff’s case.

    Clearly, with time spent in the minutiae and in reference to other doctors’ notes, Bredehoft was trying on this ninth day of the much delayed trial to show bias in Curry’s testimony. With Curry remaining relatively composed in the spotlight, whether or not Bredehoft succeeded making that point of bias to the jury is hard to tell at this point. Certainly, the frequently brought up idea of one party being “gaslit” by the other brought a wrinkle to the argument. Curry actually noted that it is rare for men to accuse women of abusing them when they are in fact the perpetrator. Correspondingly, the POV that a relationship characterized by abuse over four years, as Heard claims was the case with Depp, can lead not only to trauma but symptoms similar to the disorders Dr Curry labelled the actress with.

    Calling Dr. Curry’s opinion “predictable and lazy,” chartered psychologist Dr Jessica Taylor reached out to Deadline to say that the Borderline Personality Disorder label “has been used knowingly and deliberately weaponised against Amber Heard, just as it is against many women testifying against their male abusers in court.”

    Before Dr. Curry’s testimony on Tuesday, the court heard via video from Tara Roberts, who manages Depp’s sprawling Bahamas Isands estate. Roberts spoke of an exchange between Depp and Heard where “Amber was telling him he was a washed-up actor going to die a fat, lonely old man.” Denying she’s ever seen Depp blotto drunk, Roberts did testify under cross examination that in 2013 the actor was “passed out on the beach.” The incident was so worrying that the staffer arranged for Heard and Depp’s two near teen children to leave the island fairly soon afterwards.

    A few years after the couple’s very public and restraining order filled divorce in 2016, Depp has often said that he was the victim of domestic abuse in the relationship with Heard, and not the other way around.

    Almost three years after Depp and Heard’s divorce and its joint statement of responsibility, the past Oscar nominee sued his Rum Diary co-star in March 2019 in Virginia for a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed Heard wrote about being a victim of domestic abuse. Noted frequently at that point and subsequently is the fact that the op-ed in the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet never actually mentioned Depp by name.

    Still, fresh in the midst of various litigations at the time, Depp proclaimed that the article was clearly referring to him. Additionally, the past A-list actor said insisted that the op-ed cost him well-paying roles, a return to the Pirates franchise and “devastated” his career.

    That assertion has been a matter of extreme dispute in this April 11 starting trial, with defense lawyers pointing out Disney had already pulled back from having Depp in another Pirates film after the fiasco and box office disappointment of 2017’s Dead Men tell No Tales. Also, Heard’s lawyer Ben Rottenborn had Depp admit that even if he were offered “$300 million dollars” plus more by Disney to be in another Pirates flick, he would turn them down. What is important here is that the argument goes to the heart of any damages Depp is seeking from Heard in the already high standard of proving defamation.

    Since Depp’s 2019 filing, the Old Dominion case has seen Heard unsuccessfully attempt to have the action dismissed or shifted to California. As a result, Heard also countersued Depp for $100 million in the summer of 2020. Of note, in late 2020, Depp himself proved unsuccessful in his UK libel trial against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife-beater” in print.

    Both the countersuit and the British case loom over the proceedings underway in the Fairfax County Courthouse today. Monday saw Depp wrap up his several days of testimony on his own behalf. In court every day since the five-week long trial began, Heard is scheduled to take the stand herself in the next week or so.

    Johnny Depp Ends Testimony Proclaiming He’s Victim Of Domestic Abuse; $50M Defamation Trial Expected To Hear From Amber Heard In Next Few Weeks

    (4/25/22) 2nd UPDATE, 12:25 PM Johnny Depp ended his testimony in his $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard on Monday with a declaration that he is the victim of domestic abuse, not her.

    “Yes,” the actor said when asked by his lawyer in a final question if he was “a victim of domestic violence.”

    The Pirates of the Caribbean actor and his lawyers sought to reclaim the narrative after several days of cross-examination, in which Heard’s attorney has barraged the jury with texts and audio of the actor using violent language and in angry outbursts.

    In redirect, Depp has declared that Heard stood in the way of almost every positive move in his life during their time together up until their 2016 divorce. While he admitted last week that Heard was instrumental in his 2015 detox from opioids, Depp also painted his ex-wife as a potential trigger to a relapse.

    Depp said that if Heard didn’t leave their L.A. residence and check into a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel for several days, “I would have gone straight back to the pills.” Heard did in fact go to the hotel as requested.

    “That’s not me, that’s not who I have ever been,’ Depp said in one of his few succinct moments summing up the long expressed claims that he had been physically abusive to Heard. From a strategic POV that is the image and message Team Depp wants to leave the jury with after the roller coaster of his testimony over the last week.

    To that, seeking to inject his own courtroom commentary at the defense team’s expense, Depp had to be mildly reprimanded by Judge Azcarate to “answer the questions.”

    In fact, most of this final portion of the actor’s multi-day testimony was the legal equivalent of an Etch A Sketch in relation to the distinctly unflattering image presented by Heard’s defense team.Depp addressed that on Monday, as he was asked about claims that he vomited in bed as he slept. Depp admitted he did throw up in response to the stress of his relationship with Heard.

    At another point, self-described “poor old junkie” Depp could be heard on a recording boosting to Heard that “I’m never getting clean and sober.” That was preceded much today by an audio of Heard talking to Depp about an occasion when he “beat the sh*t” out of her.

    Bizarrely, Depp’s lawyers played another recording of the couple arguing over Depp wanting to walk out on Heard where the actor called her a “pain in the ass,” a “harpy” and a “bitch.” Additionally, the agitated Depp was heard saying that Heard had a “borderline personality disorder” as the actress told him that she loved him.

    “I was done…I stated clearly, I don’t want to be with you,” Depp later told the court of the recording, which also had him asking Heard if she wanted to hit him in the ear “again.” No specifics were given of when Heard had allegedly struck the actor.

    When asked by his lawyer Jessica Meyers how he felt in the final days of the couple’s marriage, Depp said he was “being nailed in one stop and not being able to do anything but react to her screaming like a Banshee and then telling me to calm down.” On one recording, Heard was crying and told Depp that he is “so f*cking mean” and a “bully.” “You are killing me,” Heard said at one point as Depp has an aide take his then wife away.

    “I was broken, really at the end, couldn’t take it anymore,” Depp told the court of the end of relationship.

    In a mid-2016 recorded conversation played for the court the couple were heard arguing over why their marriage went wrong and of her claims over abuse. “The abuse thing we gotta deal with that,” Depp said at one point in the recording, as the allegations had been made public. “You forced me to by going on the offense,” Heard can be heard replying emotionally.

    Like Depp, Heard will be taking the stand in the trial. Having countersued for $100 million in the summer of 2020, the actress is expected to give testimony in the next week or so.

    The five-week trial, which started on April 11, later on Monday heard from Ben King, who served as a house manager for Depp and Heard in the UK in 2014 and in Australia in 2015. The staffer has begun detailing arguments he overheard between the couple.

    Another witness is expected to take the stand remotely via video link later today.

    UPDATE, 10:24 AM: Johnny Depp wasn’t being threatening in his texts, but simply using “abstract humor,” the former Pirates of the Caribbean star told a Virginia courtroom today as he continued testifying as part of his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard.

    Having had the often vulgar, violent, rage and “monster”-filled communications read out in court under cross examinations from Heard’s defense team, the sunglasses-wearing Depp was given wide berth at the beginning of the third week of trial to reframe what he wrote actually meant in his mind.

    Calling his now infamous texts to Avengers alum Paul Bettany and employees often “irreverent, and abstract humor” based in part on Monty Python routines, Depp followed the careful lead of his attorney Jessica Meyers that his correspondence was a method of a handling a “difficult or unpleasant situation, we would, you know, do our best to deal with it with humor as opposed to just a constant complaint or whining or anything of that nature.”

    “It’s important to know that none of it was ever intended to be real,” Depp went on to say of the 2013 texts that detailed drowning and killing Heard and having sex with her dead body, among others notions. “And the language that’s used – which I, yes I am ashamed that that has to be spread on the world like peanut butter,” he added in obviously drafted language he has used over and over since those texts became public in his 2020 unsuccessful UK libel trial.

    In another instance, the actor said that harsh texts to an employee were “gobbledygook,” and written “in jest, to get a rise out of him, to get a reaction out of him.” Depp went on to say that “pain” was often the primary intention behind his use of exaggerated terms and violent language.

    Johnny Depp’s Career In Photos: From ‘Platoon’ To ‘Pirates’ And Beyond

    Coming after days of irritation by Depp under the questioning of methodical defense lawyer Ben Rottenborn and an attempt to portray the past Oscar nominee as a domestic abuser and a drunk and drug addict, today’s stint on the stand offered a potential reset in the eyes of the jury.

    Even under follow up examination from his own lawyer, a much more conservatively-dressed Depp today seemed unable to recall details of communication with others and once again returned to the long winded answers that characterized his initial testimony last week. He also tried to flip the narrative of his alcohol intake despite the seemingly overwhelming evidence presented by the defense in their cross. “My drinking was not to excessive,” Depp insisted Monday. “I never went into blackouts,” he went on to say, in a clear break with the depiction the defense presented in audio tapes, photographs and communications from Depp himself to a wide group of individuals.

    As she has on every day since the five-week long trial began on April 11, a sometimes bespectacled Heard looked on from the nearby defense table as Depp’s testimony went on. The Aquaman star also conferred with her lawyers as her ex-husband spoke. Heard is set to take the stand herself in Judge Penny Azcarate’s courtroom at some as yet undefined date.

    In pre-trial filings Bettany had also been called as a witness, as have Elon Musk and James Franco. However, it seems the WandaVision actor will not be testifying remotely after all, we’ve learned. Dragged into Depp’s attempt to sue Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling the Pirates actor a “wife-beater,” Bettany has said it was “”embarrassing” to see the texts made public then.

    Bettany was on the preliminary witness list that Depp’s side submitted to the court back in late March. While not reading too much into the absence of the actor now after Depp’s problematic testimony, it is suffice to say that trials are often in flux and witness lists can be more wishlists that carved in stone.

    Unable to get Depp’s March 2019-filed case based on her late 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic violence dismissed, Heard countersued Depp for $100 million in the summer of 2020.

    The court is currently on its regular lunch break and will resume later today. The trial runs Monday to Thursday from 10 AM to 5 PM ET usually, but Judge Azcarate said just now that she expects to go to 5:30 PM ET today because of a “late start.”

    If Depp’s testimony does finish up before then, at least two other witnesses are expected to appear today. Neither as high profile as Depp and Heard, one will be in the Fairfax County Courthouse itself and one will speak via live video link, we are told.

    PREVIOUSLY, 9:11 a.m.: A lengthy cross examination of Johnny Depp in his $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard concluded on Monday morning with the actress’s attorney again focusing on a series of the actor’s violent words in texts as well as audio of their arguments.

    Depp appeared agitated as attorney Benjamin Rottenborn introduced a series of unflattering articles written about Depp before December, 2018, when Heard published a Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Rottenborn was attempting to show that the actor’s reputation was damaged well before the Washington Post piece ran.

    Rottenborn went through the articles and read their headlines, with Depp was described as drunk, late to the set and a box office failure. Depp, on the witness stand, tried to interject his own opinion of them, calling them “hit pieces” in some cases orchestrated by Heard’s publicity team.

    When Rottenborn read the headline and subhead from a 2018 Rolling Stone profile, “The Trouble With Johnny Depp: Multimillion Dollar Lawsuits, A Haze of Booze and Hash and a Lifestyle He Can’t Afford. Inside The Trials of Johnny Depp,” the actor said, “You should read the article.” That drew some laughs in the courtroom.

    Later, Rottenborn, amid repeated objections from Depp’s side, attempted to run through what has been a central argument of Heard’s team: That the Washington Post op-ed, which doesn’t mention Depp, also doesn’t contain any of the details of his alleged domestic abuse. Heard’s attorney noted that Depp didn’t try to get the restraining order lifted in 2016 nor did he try to clear his name in a divorce trial.

    “There were no charges pressed against me,” Depp said.

    He said that he took action after the Post op-ed because “it was the only time I was able to speak and use my own voice.”

    This was Depp’s fourth day on the stand in the trial in Fairfax, VA.

    Much of Rottenborn’s cross-examination has been devoted to showing the jury a barrage of texts, audio and video as they have tried to show Depp’s pattern of drug and alcohol abuse and, in some instances, references to violence in relation to Heard.

    On Monday, Rottenborn played eight different audio clips. In one, Heard tells him, “Go put your cigarette out on someone else.” Depp says to her, “Shut up fat ass.” In court, Depp said that Heard had a penchant for “grossly exaggerated” comments. In another clip, Depp is heard referring to one of their arguments as a “bloodbath.” Other clips were unintelligible.

    Heard’s attorney also referred to a text from August, 2016 that Depp sent to his agent in which he wrote, “I can only hope that Karma kicks in and takes the gift of breath from her.” Throughout, Rottenborn has tried to show that Heard was grappling with Depp’s substance abuse. He presented a text chain she had with Depp, as the actor was trying to detox, in which she wrote, “The coke you have done today and all the booze you have drank today, has it helped us?”

    Johnny Depp Cross Examination Focuses On His Violent Language In Texts, Angry Outbursts Captured On Audio And Video

    (4/21/22) UPDATE, 2:15 PM ET: Much of the afternoon of the the cross examination of Johnny Depp was devoted to the reading of graphic text messages, and the airing of audio and video of angry outbursts and confrontations with Amber Heard.

    As one audio clip ran near the end of the day’s proceedings, Depp, on the witness stand, wiped his eyes with his hand before grabbing a tissue.

    The audio was from July, 2016, after the couple filed for divorce and Heard sought a restraining order against him.

    Depp looked down at a computer screen as the audio was played. “Where do you want the scar?” Depp says. Heard pleads with him, “Don’t cut your skin. Please do not cut your skin. Why would I do that. Please do not do that. Please don’t cut yourself.”

    Heard’s attorneys unleashed a barrage of messages throughout the day to try to show that Depp used violent language in texts with his wife.

    In one, read by Heard’s attorney Ben Rottenborn, Depp wrote, “The only reason we go for the throat is love.” Heard wrote back, “My throat is yours. You’re going to be the death of me, but I don’t care.” Depp wrote back, “I have other uses for your throat which do not include injury.”

    In the witness stand, Depp asked, “I’m sorry, could you read that again.” Some in the courtroom laughed.

    Another series of texts were shown from May 22, 2016, the day after Depp and Heard’s confrontation at their downtown Los Angeles penthouse that led to her claim that he struck her, leaving her to seek a restraining order.

    “Sorry, I’m just leaving Amanda’s birthday now,” Heard wrote.

    “Just let me know when you have a minute. And I’ll give you a call…Nothing I have to say to you should elicit anything but, a sense of ease…All my love and profound apologies…”

    Heard’s attorneys also played a video that Heard took of Depp slamming his kitchen cupboard and breaking other objects. In it, he pours a tall glass of wine. “Have you drunk this whole thing this morning?” Heard asks, before he discovers that she had been recording with her phone, and he appears to throw it.

    “Clearly I was having a bad time,” Depp told the court. He acknowledged that he “did assault a couple of cabinets, but I did not touch Miss Heard.”

    He said that Heard had illegally recorded the video, and that it “the most interesting part” was that she was shown smiling at the end of it.

    “One does stray from complete control over their emotions at times, and that is very normal primal thing to do,” Depp said.

    Another audio clip was played where Depp is heard using the “C” word about Heard, followed by the sound of what appeared to be him throwing up.

    Rottenborn appeared determined at points not just to play clips once, but multiple times.

    In a text that Depp sent to Heard’s father, David, in late December, 2015, the actor wrote, “Yes, I fucked up and went too far in our fight.” Depp said that the text didn’t refer to a “physical fight.”

    But Rottenborn tried to show that a confrontation earlier in the month did get physical. He played audio in which Depp tells heard that “I head butted you in the fucking forehead. That doesn’t break a nose.”

    “I did say those words, but I was using the words that Miss Heard was using, but there was not an intentional head butt,” Depp said. “If you want to have a peaceful conversation with ms Heard, you might have to placate a little bit.”

    PREVIOUSLY: Johnny Depp faced further harsh and messy revelations today about his alcohol and drugs use while under cross examination in the $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard.

    Not that the man who portrayed the soused Capt. Jack Sparrow for years was taking it lying down – even with what came across as a storm of incriminating documentation.

    “No, I wasn’t drinking that heavily …it’s what you define as heavily,” Depp snapped back at defense attorney Ben Rottenborn at one point when pressed about his intake in the last years of his long term relationship with Vanessa Paradis, the mother of his now two grown children.

    Subsequently, the lawyer read out testimony from Depp’s failed 2020 UK libel case against The Sun tabloid where the actor had said “I was abusing alcohol for sure” during the end of the Paradis relationship. After quipping “were you there?” to Rottenborn over his drinking, Depp softly admitted that the testimony from the other side of the Atlantic was what he said, seemingly a contradiction to his stance in this case that he is not a heavy drinker and has pretty much never had a problem with booze.

    Also at one point, communications from Depp were read out in the Virginia courthouse slamming the “French extortionist” and “ex-c*nt” in reference to Paradis – putting down a blueprint from the defense of a pattern of such excessive language and intent on Depp’s part.

    However, in a day that saw references to Keith Richards and Elton John, among others, Depp’s apparently wide spread drug use was the primary focus of the latter part of today’s proceedings in the high profile battle between the ex-couple.

    As more photographs and texts messages were displayed in court, Depp sought again to stress his intake wasn’t about enjoyment, but trying to handle the blast radius from his dysfunctional childhood and cinematic workload. “It’s not like I took the pills to get high, I took the pills to get normal,” the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star declared of his addiction to Oxycodone several years ago.

    The extent of that addiction and other substances was made crystal clear in a text one of his nurses who had commented on 2015’s Black Mass. “I was high as a mother*cker when I made that film,” Depp told the nurse with a digital laugh.

    Later in the morning, the literary-aspiring Depp tried to give his own spin on his communications, as he has repeatedly over the past three days and in past court filings, “When I write a test especially if I’m in a particularly impassioned place it’s a canvas, it’s a painting,” the actor proclaimed before being shut down by Rottenborn.

    Destruction of property in rooms full of “hookers and animals” and “blood” were also brought up today in a methodical process that aimed to fray Depp’s assertions of his personality and conduct in his relationship to Heard and previously. A May 2013 trip out to near Palm Springs with Heard and others was also entered into the record. Depp punched up a bathroom on that visit after an argument with openly bisexual Heard about the attention another woman was giving her.

    Following up on that incident, an unflattering July 11, 2013 text to Avengers actor Paul Bettany, who was mentioned at length earlier in the day, was read out. “I of course pounded and displayed ugly colors to Amber on a recent journey,” Depp told Bettany as the duo planned a future trip together. “Ugly and sad, Oh, how I love it,’ Depp added to his friend.

    A 2014 attempt at Depp detoxing saw the actor take a much less flamboyant and aggressive approach to his text. “Thank you so much for getting me f*cking clean baby,” he wrote Heard. Another communication to Heard’s mother after the detox effort praised the actress and said it “was Amber and Amber only that got me through this.”

    Still, joining the defense’s modulated drip on Depp’s overall character and behavior, the actor being sued for allegedly striking location manager Greg “Rocky” Brooks on the LA set of City of Lies in 2017 was noted before the seven-person jury too. Brooks took the litigious Depp to LA Superior Court in July 2018 and the case is still winding its way through the judicial process.

    Speaking much more clearly and with less affectation than in previous days, Depp admitted in court Thursday that he believed in 2014 Heard was having an “affair” with James Franco, with whom she was making a movie. The actor bristled over low key lawyer Rottenoborn’s description of him being “in a blackout” for portions of a private jet flight from Boston to LA where Depp and Heard fought over Franco.

    Though confronted by testimony from his UK libel trial that said otherwise, Depp refused to admit he was “very drunk on that flight” and could not blackout from his consumption of Oxycodone. Later, the actor rambled about “caving in” in his British testimony before being cut off for brevity by Rottenborn. Depp also was not impressed by Rottenborn challenging his assertion that he had “lied” about being sober for 18 months before traveling to Australia in 2015 to work on the troubled Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

    Indicative of how sharp elbowed things may get going forward for the rest of Thursday, an insurance form taken out by the Walt Disney Company for Depp’s role in the tentpole flick was introduced into the record just before the lunch break. The February 11 2015 dated document asked if Depp was taking “illegal substances, whether prescribed by a physician or not” and the actor checked “no.” The defense is contending that Depp lied on the form.

    The pressure on Depp, who first sued Heard in March 2019 over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic abuse, and his legal team is clearly being felt. “Mr. Rottenborn’s aggressive and, coincidentally, ‘jack-hammer’ approach toward a man who has suffered extensively over the last six years proves that the mistreatment of Johnny goes well beyond Ms. Heard’s grievous behavior,” a source close to the Depp team told Deadline as the morning wrapped up. “Colorful texts, which Johnny has already apologized for, do not equate to physical actions and Mr. Rottenborn still has not been able to connect the two, nor will he ever be able to,” they added

    Jack-hammered or not, Depp’s cross examination is likely to take up the rest of the day after the lunch break. The five-week long trial will go dark on Friday, as it does every week

    PREVIOUSLY, 8:24 AM: Johnny Depp’s own threatening words about Amber Heard and his substance-abuse issues came back to haunt the actor today in the $50 million defamation trial.

    As the one-time couple and Rum Diary co-stars battle over domestic-abuse claims by Heard against Depp, the defense team put the spotlight on a series of incendiary, profanity-filled texts from the former Pirates of the Caribbean star to fellow thespian and late-night pal Paul Bettany.

    How To Watch The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Depp Cross-Examined By Heard’s Lawyer Thursday

    Public for years and brought up in various legal actions, the damning 2013 and 2014 exchanges between Depp and WandaVision star Bettany detail the former’s desire to “burning,” “drowning” and having sex with the “burnt corpse” of Heard.

    Much more subdued than in the highly charged closing minutes of Wednesday’s testimony, a black-suited Depp was asked at length about his abusive childhood and his aspirations to meet the standards of a “Southern gentleman,” as defense attorney Ben Rottenborn termed it. Still, Depp’s frustration with the lawyer’s probing was evident. “I don’t feel like I am wasting anyone’s time, sir,” the actor piped up on one occasion as Rottenborn tried to cut short a long-winded reply.

    Evoking the name of the Avengers alum, Rottenborn listed off the substances that Depp and Bettany were said to have ingested in their times together, including cocaine, Xanax and Adderall, as well as booze. The defense lawyer also used the line of questioning as a way to slip in a reference to Depp’s unsuccessful 2020 UK libel trial against The Sun tabloid for calling the actor a “wife-beater” in print. That British matter is only allowed to be introduced to the jury in very specific context.

    Laying a very obvious foundation to counter Depp and his team’s assertion of the actor’s behavior during the relationship with Heard, Rottenborn also read out a May 30, 2014 text to Bettany that seemed to give credence to Heard’s accusations of abuse and her ex-husband’s consumption levels. “Drank all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA this past Sunday. Ugly mate. No food for days. Powders. Half a bottle of whisky,” Depp wrote. “An angry aggro injun in a fucking blackout, screaming obscenities and insulting any f*ck who got near,” the actor continued.

    “She didn’t like it when it was her perception that I was high on drugs and alcohol,” a contrite and sometimes sunglasses wearing Depp said when asked of Heard’s feelings about his intake and the effect it had on him.

    Over two years after the couple divorced amidst restraining orders and a $7 million settlement from the actor, Depp sued Heard in March 2019 in Virginia over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed she penned on domestic abuse. While the op-ed never mentioned Depp by name, as Rottenborn made a repeated point of in his initial cross examination on Wednesday, the actor proclaimed that the article cost the one-time blockbuster cost actor big bucks roles, a return to the Pirates franchise and “devastated” his career. “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” Depp’s spring 2019 suit also stated.

    After failing to both get the matter moved to California and dismissed, the Aquaman star countersued her litigious ex-husband for $100 million in September 2020.

    Which, after a series of postponements, brought all to the Fairfax County Courthouse and seven-person jury – where Bettany is set to be called as a witness at some point.

    In another set of texts read out in court to Patti Smith during the making of 2015’s Black Mass, Depp spoke of “getting shitty” to Heard. A 2014 text to Heard herself saw Depp apologizing for a clearly bad encounter between the couple: “I’m a fucking savage, gotta to lose that …the Devil is all around.”

    A 2015 text to a staffer who had complimented Depp on how good he thought the actor and Heard could be together saw the Edward Scissorhands stars respond with “all I had to do was send the monster away and lock him up.” In another 2015 correspondence to Dr. David Kipper, who testified via pre-recorded video earlier in the much delayed trial, Depp bragged about what a great “three months” he and Heard had after he “locked my monster child away.”

    But clearly the self-described “monster,” who was mentioned in other texts to other acquaintances, was never that far away for Depp and Heard.

    “I’ll smack the ugly c*nt around before I let her in,” another 2014 text from Depp to a friend read. In a further 2015 text to his older sister, Depp referred to his then wife as “that filthy whore” Having warned the packed courtroom that there would be some very strong language used, Rottenborn’s cross examination continued as Heard herself sat mere feet away from Depp and the various lawyers.

    Bristling under the glare of the questioning and exhibits, many of which his own attorneys sought redactions on, Depp’s best counter was to exclaim “I have a particular way of using words, vocabulary in my vernacular.”

    That remark didn’t seem to impress the jury and other onlookers, many of whom are self-declared Depp fans. However, Depp did get a laugh out of some in the courtroom at a later point when he responded “Isn’t Happy Hour anytime?” to a query about his drinking habits.

    A 2012 text to Depp’s buddy Marilyn Manson on the “plants and the pills” made for more fodder of the actor’s issues with drugs. “They have always been a medicine for me, a numbing agent,” Depp reiterated on Thursday of his use of various substances. While the Hollywood Vampire guitarist has insisted that he never used drugs to “party,” the depiction in court today, along with s series of photographs of Depp with drugs in his vicinity offered a very different POV.

    The trial will go dark tomorrow, as Judge Penny Azcarate has scheduled the five-week long proceedings to run Monday to Thursday. The whole shebang will pause from May 9-12 as the judge has a previously scheduled conference engagement.

    Johnny Depp Gets Tangled Up In Abuse Claim Timelines, Disney’s ‘Pirates’ Intentions & More Under Cross Exam In $50M Defamation Trial

    (4/20/22) 3RD UPDATE, 2:25 PM PT: After a day and half on the stand in his $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard, a once-confident Johnny Depp on Wednesday found himself losing his footing and flashing signs of anger.

    Under cross examination from Aquaman star Heard’s lawyer Ben Rottenborn in the closing minutes of today’s session, Depp became both combative and sometimes confused as the attorney zeroed in on the actor’s assertions that a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed penned by Heard destroyed his life, career and reputation.

    “I’m suing her over defamation and the various falsities that she used to bring my life to an end,” the often sunglasses-wearing Depp declared to the jury, lawyers and others in the Fairfax County Courthouse this afternoon. Admitting as Heard sat nearby that the opinion piece does not mention his actual name, the suddenly somewhat befuddled actor tried to re-craft a 2016 statement he signed upon the couple’s divorce.

    “I was advised by my attorneys not to fight it,” he said of why he didn’t contest Heard’s claims of domestic abuse at the time, and waited nearly three years to file this case in March 2019.

    As openly irritated Depp floundered and was cut off from the long-winded answers of his previous testimony, the strategic Rottenborn appeared poised to make the more pragmatic case of why didn’t Depp just sue Heard for violating the terms of their divorce settlement with public statements about where she would donate her $7 million settlement, rather than zero in on defamation claims.

    A key part of a defamation trial is that plaintiffs have to show it was a specific statement or article that caused damage to a reputation. Depp tried to make the case that Heard’s op-ed cost him the next Pirates movie. But Heard’s attorney tried to show that Disney had made that decision not to hire Depp before the WaPo op-ed appeared, and that Depp didn’t want to do the movie anyway.

    Noting an October 25, 2018 Daily Mail piece that Depp was “out” of the Pirates franchise, Rottenborn bluntly asked Depp whether he wouldn’t do another Jack Sparrow movie if he was offered $300 million and more. “That is true,” Depp quietly replied, after a meandering discussion about his Jack Sparrow character remaining part of the Disney theme parks and merchandise even if “Disney was trying cut ties to be safe.”

    After previously citing a sixth Pirates movie as being in “dangle mode,” and that he had even been approached to perhaps write for the flick when asked by his own lawyer Jess Meyers earlier in the day, Depp fessed up to Rottenborn and the court that he had no idea if another installment in the sea-set franchise was ever going to be made.

    Depp will be on the stand for more cross examination Thursday. Having countersued her ex-husband for $100 million after coming up short getting this case tossed out, Heard is also schedule to testify, though no date has been set in what is expected to be five-week trial. Both Depp and Heard testified in the former’s spectacularly unsuccessful 2020 UK libel action against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling the actor a “wife-beater.”

    Earlier in the last hours of today’s testimony, Depp under the tutorage of Meyers tried to convey the stakes in the case and the abuse allegations from his POV.

    “Nothing less than everything, nothing less than everything because when the allegations were made, when the allegation were rapidly circulating the globe telling people that I was a drunken, cocaine-fueled menace who beat women suddenly in my 50s, it’s over, you’re done,” one-time Oscar nominee said of what he had lost from Heard’s claims.

    “No matter the outcome of this trial, the second the accusation were made against me .. once that happened, I lost then,” he added in considered tones. “I lost because that is not a thing that anyone is going to just put on your back for a short time. I will live with that for the rest of my life because of the allegations and because it was such a high-profile case.”

    Clearly running behind already, the trial is set to go Monday-Thursday with Fridays off. Along with Heard, big names like Elon Musk, James Franco and Depp’s one-time drinking pal and text buddy Paul Bettany (of Avengers and WandaVision fame) are expected to testify before this is all done.

    2ND UPDATE, 1:05 p.m. PT: Johnny Depp said that though he was upset during a May 21, 2016 confrontation with then-wife Amber Heard, he was not physically abusive toward her.

    On his second day on the stand in the $50 million defamation trial, the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star said that had already told Heard that he planned to file for divorce when he went to their downtown Los Angeles to gather some of his possessions and have a conversation with her.

    A topic was a photo that Depp had seen, after he moved out, in which feces were on his side of their bed. Heard claimed that it was from their dogs, but Depp denied it. Depp said that when Heard got his belongings and came back downstairs, Heard was on the phone with a friend and they were laughing about the incident.

    “It was a tough couple of days and I didn’t really feel like I deserved that kind of treatment,” a sunglasses-wearing Depp said on the stand. He said that he grabbed the phone and told her friend, ‘You can have her now. She’s all yours.'”

    He said that he then “flopped the phone on the couch.” The actor then described that then another friend of Heard’s, Rocky Pennington, ran into the penthouse and said, “Leave her alone Johnny. Leave her alone.'”

    Depp said that he was 20 feet away, but Heard told her friend on the phone, “Stop hitting me Johnny.”

    She was “screaming in her best freaked out voice.”

    Depp said that two friends of his, who he had brought with him, then entered the penthouse. Heard saw them and said to Depp, “That is the last time you will hit me.”

    Heard filed for a restraining order later that month and released photos showing herself with significant bruises on her face.

    Much of Depp’s afternoon testimony was devoted to describing various arguments in their stormy relationship, as he put the blame squarely on Heard for some violent incidents. At one point, he said that “there was some accidental contact” on his part as he tried to restrain his then-wife from hitting him. Depp denied that he broke Heard’s nose in the altercation despite Heard showing him a red soiled Kleenex. “I pulled the Kleenex out of the trash bin and I inspected it pretty closely and realized it was nail polish, nail varnish,“ he told the court.

    Depp’s attorney Jess Meyers also played audio recordings of an argument that they had in 2015, after Depp said Heard had kicked a bathroom door on his head. In one of the excerpts, Heard called Depp a “baby” and said, “I was hitting you. I was not punching you.”

    Depp also spoke of the death of his mother in May 2016. The Alice in Wonderland star talked about the impact of that loss, and how he “forgave” his mother for her abusive ways. But he also said that it helped resolve himself to end his marriage with Heard and that “if it is not going to work, it is not going to work.”

    Depp’s extensive testimony, in which he has described situations slowly and haltingly, is likely to extend into Thursday. Cross-examination by Heard’s lawyers is expected to begin tomorrow.

    UPDATED, 10:32 AM PT: On the witness stand today, Johnny Depp described in graphic detail the March 2015 argument with then-wife Amber Heard that led to him severing his right middle finger.

    That incident has come up several times so far in the trial on his $50 million defamation suit, as his attorneys have argued that it was Heard who was physically abusive, not him.

    How To Watch The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Depp May Be Cross Examined By Heard’s Lawyer Wednesday

    Depp said that he lost the top of his finger when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him and the glass shattered. She was visiting his rented home in Australia as he was making the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film.

    That day, Heard had arrived on a flight from Los Angeles but was upset over a meeting she had with an attorney to discuss Depp’s request for a “post-nuptial” agreement. Depp testified that Heard said the attorney was rude and dismissive to her.

    “She kept saying: ‘I am not even in your will. I am not even in your will,'” Depp told the jury. “I thought it was an odd thing to say. … It felt wrong, and she would not let go of the fact that I was in on this post-nuptial agreement and I was trying to trick her into getting nothing if something were to happen.”

    He said that their argument escalated, and that Heard “was irate and she was possessed” and called him an “ass kisser to lawyers” or a “pussy.” He said that he tried to lock himself in at least nine different rooms and a bathroom, but she banged on the doors and screamed. He said that he called his lawyer Jake Bloom to try to get the attorneys on the phone because “I was very upset that she was pushed to that limit because I believed it. In fact, none of it had happened.”

    Depp said that he eventually went to the home’s downstairs rec room where, despite being sober for a number of months, he poured himself two or three shots of vodka.

    “She found me there [and said], ‘Oh, you’re are drinking again,’ a monster and all that,'” Depp said.

    He said that Heard grabbed the bottle and hurled it at him, and that it went right past his head and smashed behind him. He said that he then walked behind the bar and pour himself a shot from a larger bottle of vodka. In the witness box, Depp stood up as he demonstrated how he was standing when, he said, Heard took the other bottle and threw it at him.

    “My hand was on the edge of the bar and she threw the large bottle and it made contact and it shattered everywhere, and I honestly didn’t feel the pain at all.” But he said that he did feel dripping and “looked down and I realized the tip of my finger had been severed. … I was looking directly at my bone sticking out and the meaty portion of the inside of your finger, and blood was just pouring out.”

    He said that he then went into “some sort of nervous breakdown” and started to write on the walls with his own blood. He didn’t say what was written but said that they were “little reminders of our past that represented lies that she had told me and lies that I had caught her in.”

    Heard’s attorneys have said that they intend to argue that Depp’s would was self-inflicted.

    Depp said that he was in “shock” but could not recall what Heard said next. He said that he then went to the emergency room but told the doctor that he had smashed the finger on some large accordion doors.

    He said that he didn’t want to disclose that Heard had thrown the bottle, as he wanted to keep things “as copacetic as possible.” He did tell Dr. David Kipper, who he had hired to treat his addition to opiates.

    Jurors were shown graphic photos of his injury, as well as a photo of Depp’s face. Depp pointed to a mark that he said came from Heard putting out his cigarette on his cheek.

    Depp said that he had surgery to reconstruct the finger via a skin graft from another part of his hand. He said that he wore a bandage through the rest of production on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales but that it was removed in the film through CGI.

    PREVIOUSLY, 8:51 AM: Johnny Depp continued his second day of testimony in his $50 million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, as he described the deterioration of their relationship and what he said was physical and emotional abuse on her part.

    On direct questioning from his own attorney, Depp described Heard as attacking him with “a rapid-fire, sort of an endless parade of insults and looking at me like I was a fool.”

    He said that if their arguments “continued to escalate, if I continued to try to present my version of my side of the story, when you are approached in a kind of, when you are approached with such anger and hatred, it seemed like pure hatred for me. If I stayed to argue that, I was sure that it would escalate into violence, and often times it did. It did.”

    Depp’s attorney asked him what he meant by “violence.”

    “In her frustration and her anger, she would strike out,” he testified. “It could begin with a slap, it could begin with a shove, it could begin with throwing a TV remote at my head. It could begin with throwing a glass of wine at my face. All in all, it was constant.”

    He said that Heard used his personal experiences against him “as weapons, especially when it came to my kids. There was no need for it. Too many lines were crossed, you couldn’t see the lines any more.”

    The jury in the Fairfax, VA, courtroom likely will hear two versions of the nature of their relationship.

    Depp filed his defamation lawsuit after Heard wrote a Washington Post op-ed in 2018 in which she described herself as a domestic abuse survivor. Although he was not named, Depp contends that the connection was apparent, given the publicity over an argument two years earlier, in which Heard obtained a restraining order and released photos showing her face badly bruised. Heard, meanwhile, has filed a $100 million counterclaim, and her attorneys plan to present testimony of Depp’s physical abuse.

    In his Wednesday testimony, Depp described being on a May 2014 flight from Boston to Los Angeles with Heard. He had taken to Roxycotin pills, amid concerns over his addiction to the opioid.

    “I was not feeling any pain and I knew that she was ready for some kind of brawl,” he said. Depp said that during the flight Heard would “poke and prod physically and poke and prod psychological, emotionally,” to the point where he left and hid in the bathroom and fell asleep.

    “I found the only way to find any kind of peace was to try to walk away,” Depp said.

    Johnny Depp Details Opioid Addiction, Says He Is “Ashamed” Of Texts Threatening Amber Heard; Testimony In $50M Defamation Trial Will Continue Tomorrow

    (4/19/22) 2ND UPDATE, 1:23 PM: “I tend to be quite expressive in my writing,” a halting Johnny Depp said Tuesday on the stand of his $50 million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

    After previous testimony during the day detailing his dysfunctional childhood and rise to international stardom, Depp shifted focus in the Virginia courtroom to the vile texts and other communications that have come out of attacks on his Rum Diary co-star. The actor also addressed his reported deep-seated issues with drugs and drinks, laying a lot of the blame on his abusive mother and her “nerve pills.” “It was self-medication,” the former Pirates of the Caribbean star claimed.

    With the seven-member jury and Heard herself sitting close by, Depp explained that he started using his mother’s pills at the age of 11 to “take the edge off.” He also claimed that he never took drugs or drank to “party” but to dull “the pain.” Citing the “trauma” of his youth, Depp said his “quote, un-quote substance abuse that has been delivered by Ms. Heard is grossly embellished and sorry to say, a lot of it is plainly false.” He added: “It was an easy target for her to hit.”

    “I am not some maniac who needs to be high or loaded all the time,” the 58-year old Depp asserted, also alleging that he had long periods of total sobriety in his life.

    In fact, contrary to evidence presented in this case and in the week-old trial, Depp said he was never been “out of control” on a film set or while working.

    “When I was with Ms. Heard, and her friends and we were all drinking wine and I was smoking marijuana, they used to tease me for what they said was a ludicrous tolerance because I never appeared bloated or high,” he said. “Even if I felt a little spinny no one would have ever known.”

    Making sure his version of events didn’t completely diverge from what others have said, Depp did admit that he was “addicted” to the prescription opioid Roxycodone after suffering a back injury from performing an action scene on 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. “I was bit by the snake, and before you know it that monkey is on your back to stay.”

    Depp added that once he finally kicked the drug, he vowed to stay off it no matter how much pain or discomfort he suffered, such as when one of his fingers was sliced off while on location in Australia in 2015. He said that he didn’t take the opioid again.

    “Once you have been bit, you will be bit again,” he said.

    With tales of Peter Frampton and Van Morrison records, Clockwork Orange and Last Tango in Paris soundtracks and writers like the Beat Generation and Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, Depp delved into his own style of scribbles after some prodding by his lawyer Jess Meyers.

    “In my texts, in my emails, and my writings you take the subject itself and you try to express it in your own vernacular,” he said, as the looming specter of hateful and threatening communications with the likes of self-described drug buddy and Avengers alum Paul Bettany, as well as members of his staff and medical team.

    Knowing the damning portrait the texts and other communications paint and how effective they could be in Heard’s defense, especially with Bettany on the witness list, Depp took a risky preemptive approach hoping to defang the material.

    “I am ashamed of some of the references made and embarrassed at the tone that in the heat of the moment, the heat of the pain I was feeling, went to dark places,” the actor said in a low voice on the stand. “Sometimes pain has to be dealt with humor, and sometimes dark very dark humor,” he went on to testify as Heard watched stone-faced.

    “Sometimes you are exaggerating something you’ve done to make him understand you are on Planet Question Mark,” Depp stated of the texts shared with the likes of Bettany that threatened to kill Heard, defile her and more.

    Flipping the responsibility, Depp then declared he used horrible terms in texts in reaction to Heard’s claims of domestic abuse and more at his hands.

    “After the unfortunate words of Ms. Heard made their way into my heart and my head and those are two very opposing things – and you are trying to find to the best way to express sometime to a friend,” Depp went on to say.

    With less than hour left in Tuesday’s testimony, Depp’s attorney turned the actor towards describing how he met Heard and how their relationship developed. Depp described how he referred to Heard as “Slim” and she called him “Steve,” the names of Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart’s characters in To Have and Have Not. Depp compared his difference in age to that of Bacall and Bogart.

    “I was the old craggy Bogie, and she was this beautiful creature, this stunning creature,” Depp said, as Heard watched, expressionless.

    Set to go to 2 PM PT today, Depp will return to the stand Wednesday for more testimony and cross examination.

    UPDATE, 12:29 PM: “Anonymity has left the building …that’s an odd thing to deal with,” Johnny Depp told a packed Virginia courtroom today as the one-time Oscar nominee continued his testimony in the $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard.

    “It all turned around, it went weird,” Depp added of the gifts and curses of the huge success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and the security details subsequently required for himself, “the kiddies” and other members of his family

    In what was an arched attempt at presenting the multi-millionaire as just a regularly guy to the Fairfax County jury and onlookers in and out of the court, Depp pushed back against the self-described “disturbing criminal acts” allegations of domestic abuse that his ex-wife and Rum Diary co-star has long claimed.

    Spending most of his initial testimony Tuesday ruminating over his troubled childhood and the violence he saw and was subjected to at a young age, Depp also played to the seven-person jury with tales of his early career.

    Stressing he signed up for his “some Pepé Le Pew, some Keith Richards,” Capt. Jack Sparrow role in the Pirates franchise in many ways out of watching cartoons with his own offspring, a sometimes rambling Depp sought project an air of an innocent thrust into a world of celebrity, money and power that he never expected or desired.

    The actor also spent time carefully constructing a portrait of himself as someone who takes his craft very seriously.

    That pose is very important after claims in filings by Heard’s side and prior testimony by others of a seemingly endlessly pampered Depp’s cavalier attitude towards his profession and production. Admitting he never actually saw the first Pirates flick, Depp said “he believed in the character wholeheartedly” and came to know Jack Sparrow better than the screenwriters.

    The Edward Scissorhands actor also revealed how profoundly his life and career altered once Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl came out to huge box office success in 2003. As he had earlier in his testimony, Depp emphasized his concern for his kids and their safety amidst all the attention.

    “I forgot what the original part of your question was, I got lost in the gauntlet,” Depp told his attorney Jessica Meyers after a detailed description of the throngs of fans he would meet at blockbuster film premieres.

    The trial has paused for its 15-minute afternoon break. As she has been every moment since the much postponed trial began on April 11, Heard was watching Depp’s testimony in the courtroom. As she did in the 2020 UK libel trial that Depp lost, the Aquaman actress is scheduled to give her own testimony at some point in the five-week trail on this side of the ponf.

    PREVIOUSLY, 11:18 AM: “My goal is the truth,” said Johnny Depp on the stand today one week into the $50 million defamation trial instigated by the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star against Amber Heard back in March 2019. “Lies build upon lies,” he testified.

    Calling Heard’s years old allegations of domestic abuse by Depp to her “diabolical,” the actor said he was “doing the right thing” pursuing the high profile case.

    “It was a complete shock, it just didn’t need to go in that direction, as nothing of the kind ever happened,” Depp told the Fairfax County Courthouse in a halting voice with no small degree of affectation. “There were arguments, and things of that nature, but never did myself reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in anyway, nor have I struck anyone in my life,” he added.

    “It was my responsibility to not only clear my name …I wanted to clear my children of this horrid thing they had to read about their father, that was untrue,” Depp went on to say of his motivation to bring this exposure of he and Heard’s relationship into the public sphere.

    “It’s very strange when one day you’re Cinderella, and in 0.6 seconds you’re Quasimodo,” the actor said of his perception of the public perception of him after Heard’s allegations of frequent abuse became public. “I didn’t deserve that nor did my children nor the people who’ve believed in me all these years,” he added with no small degree of humility.

    After that clearly well rehearsed set-up, Depp launched into a vivid depiction of his own working class childhood, and the turmoil and violence he experienced growing up. That history has been a vital element of Depp’s legal team’s strategy even before the trial started last week.

    Largely uninterrupted by his attorneys, Depp’s discussion of his early years was perhaps more relatable than much of what the jury has heard over the past week, tales of a life of private islands, private planes and a private detox doctor, perhaps beyond the comprehension of jurors even from well-to-do Fairfax County.

    Observing her litigious ex-husband testifying, Heard sat close by in courtroom as she has every day since the much delayed trial began on April 11.

    The Aquaman star is scheduled to take the stand herself later in the proceedings. Both Depp and Heard testified in the late 2020 U.K. libel trial that saw the actor unsuccessfully move to rebut The Sun tabloid assertion that Depp is a “wife-beater.” While not officially permitted to be heavily referenced during this Stateside trial, the British matter does loom over the Virginia proceedings — at least in the court of public opinion.

    Depp will be on the stand on Wednesday for cross examination. The trial is set to run for five weeks. However, it will hit the pause button from May 9-12 as Judge Penney S. Azcarate has a previously scheduled conference engagement.

    This latest fray between Depp and Heard, who divorced in 2016 with restraining orders and a media feeding frenzy surrounding them, started when The Tourist actor suddenly sued his ex-wife in March 2019 in Virginia for a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed Heard penned about domestic abuse and the potential fallout for victims.

    As has been noted by Heard’s legal team in and out of court, the op-ed never mentioned Depp by name. Yet, in subsequent paperwork, the Hollywood Vampires guitarist proclaimed the article in the Jeff Bezos-owned outlet was clearly referring to him, cost the one-time box office gold actor well-paying roles, a return to the Pirates franchise and “devastated” his career.

    In the three years since Depp’s filing, the case has seen Heard unsuccessfully try over and over to have the matter dismissed or shifted to California. As a result, Heard also she countersued Depp for $100 million in the summer of 2020.

    While acknowledging that Depp has a high burden to meet for defamation, sources close to the actor’s team say he will “own” his various vices on the stand, but aim to “make sure the truth comes out. “ Long before today testimony, Depp has adamantly denied he ever abused Heard. In fact, he has claimed that he is the victim of domestic abuse in the admittedly tempestuous relationship

    It is almost a given that the losing side in this sordid affair will appeal and drag the matter on even further

    The earlier part of today saw Depp’s friend and sound technician Keenan Wyatt testifying in a display that did not go as Team Depp had likely hoped.

    Unsurprisingly seeking to be complimentary to his long-time pal and paymaster, Wyatt did confirm somewhat embarrassingly that one-time Oscar nominee Depp has been using an ear piece when filming since 1997’s The Brave. Wyatt also was grilled on “a binge with Marilyn Manson for a few days” that Depp allegedly engaged in, plus a pattern of constant absences and tardiness on 2014’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales while production was underway in Australia.

    Additionally, in what became a battle of objections between the lawyers in the courtroom, Wyatt detailed to the jury and onlookers his experiences with Depp and his interactions with Heard during the couple’s relationship. “I’ve never seen Johnny be violent to anyone,” Wyatt told Heard attorney Elaine Bredehoft under a sometimes tense cross-examination.

    “You don’t know what went on behind closed doors,” Bredehoft declared in an explicit evisceration of Wyatt’s testimony that led to the sound technician defaulting to a cascades of “I don’t recall” and similar statements.

    Along with Depp and Heard, A-listers like James Franco, WandaVision’s Paul Bettany and the world’s on-again/off-again richest man Elon Musk are set to testify in the Old Dominion-set trial.

    As of right now, the trial runs Monday to Thursday, with Fridays off.

    Johnny Depp To Take The Stand Tomorrow In $50M Defamation Trial

    (4/18/22) A week into the $50 million defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, the marquee player is about to take the stand.

    Depp will testify on his own behalf Tuesday in the exceedingly high-profile case that is taking place in Virginia’s Fairfax County Courthouse, we’ve learned. If all goes to plan, the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star will take the oath and the stand in front of a seven-person jury, Heard, a platoon of lawyers, the cameras and Judge Penney S. Azcarate during the later part of the morning

    Depp will continue on the stand Wednesday for cross-examination, a source close to the actor’s team says. Depp’s longtime pal and sound technician Keenan Wyatt is also expected to testify Tuesday for the Oscar nominee’s side.

    Once the much delayed trial was finally given a start date last year, Depp and ex-wife and Aquaman star Heard were always assumed to be testifying in the bitter multimillion-dollar matter, but it is a surprise that the actor is going so early in what is planned as a five-week trial.

    Other big names scheduled to testify during the trial include James Franco, Avengers star Paul Bettany, and potential Twitter boss Elon Musk.

    Awaiting the outcome of the case presented by Depp’s Brown Ruddick LLP attorneys Camille Vasquez, Ben Chew and Jessica Meyers, Heard’s testimony has not be given a date yet. Kicking off on April 11 and running Monday to Thursday in the Washington, D.C.-adjacent jurisdiction, the trial will go dark from May 9-12 as Azcarate will be attending a previously scheduled judicial conference.

    The already harsh and often explicit court clash between Depp and Heard, who divorced in 2016 amidst restraining orders and competing media narratives, started when the actor sued his Rum Diary co-star in March 2019 in Virginia for a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic abuse and the potential fallout for victims. The Heard-penned article never actually mentioned Depp by name, but in his subsequent filing the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas actor declared the piece cost him lucrative roles and “devastated” his career.

    Since then, as the two have engaged in the legal equivalent of trench warfare, Heard has tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to have the case thrown out or moved to California. Failing that, she countersued her former husband for $100 million in the summer of 2020.

    In addition to the direct matter at hand, pink-slipped Fantastic Beasts star Depp, who has a high burden to meet to prove actual defamation, is certainly now attempting to refocus the conventional impression of his behavior. That impression had been solidified in the mind of many by his November 2020 UK loss in a “wife beater” libel action against Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun. Depp has proved unsuccessfully in appeal efforts in that damning case on the other side of the Atlantic.

    With a ponytailed Depp and Heard both in the courtroom Monday, the jury heard more video testimony from Dr. David Kipper, who was hired in 2014 to treat Depp for an addiction to opioids.

    Kipper said he never witnessed Depp abuse Heard nor did he witness Heard physically attack Depp. He also was serving as Depp’s internist, and said he determined that Depp was experiencing a dopamine imbalance, and he diagnosed him with bipolar disorder, chronic substance abuse disorder, ADHD, depression, insomnia and chronic reflux. The testimony also featured highly charged text-message exchanges between Depp and Kipper where the actor talked of his “monster” and other aggressive statements about Heard and their relationship.

    As he did on April 14, Kipper, who still counts Depp as a patient, recounted more details of the aftermath of a March 2015 incident in Australia in which Depp’s fingertip was severed. Debbie Lloyd, Depp’s private nurse who worked with Kipper, testified that she arrived at the Depp-Heard rental home to find it “a mess.”

    “I remember there was some writing on the wall and I remember a smashed TV,” she said. But she acknowledged hearing conflicting accounts of how Depp severed his finger. “I had heard that Amber threw a bottle of vodka at him, I had heard that he slammed it with a phone,” she said.

    In notes, Lloyd also told the court of a 2014 visit to Depp’s home where the actor “sitting with bloody knuckles” after supposedly punching a white board in frustration. The notes from the nurse additionally stated that on an October 2014 set visit Depp was “verbally aggressive to another person on set so no apparent reason.”

    Lloyd told the court via video Monday that she believed Depp and Heard’s arguments during their marriage were a “trigger for him emotionally.”

    With Lloyd still on the virtual stand, the court is expected to be in session today until around 2 p.m. PT.

    Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Marriage Therapist Describes Couple’s “Mutual Abuse”

    (4/14/22) A marriage therapist testified in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial that the volatile couple engaged in “what I saw as mutual abuse.”

    Dr. Laurel Anderson, in a video deposition played in a Virginia court on Thursday, elaborated on notes she had taken during the couple’s sessions.

    “He had been well controlled for, I don’t know, for almost 20, 30 years, and both were victims of abuse in their homes, but I thought he had been well controlled for decades. And with Ms. Heard he was triggered and they engaged in what I saw as mutual abuse,” she said.

    Depp sued Heard following the December 2018 publication of a Washington Post op ed in which Heard said that she was the victim of domestic abuse. Although she did not name Depp, his attorneys said that there was enough of a connection to her allegations of domestic violence that surfaced two years earlier. Heard has filed a counterclaim.

    Anderson said that Depp and Heard both were victims of abuse in their childhoods.

    Anderson worked with Heard and Depp through 21 sessions. She said that Heard had a “jackhammer style of talking” and was “very amped up,” while he “had trouble talking at a similar pace.”

    In one note she had written from a session, she wrote, that “he hits her. No closed fist. She hits back and starts it for pride because father hit her.”

    Anderson said that the note was “her reporting to me” that Depp hits her with an “open hand slap.”

    “She says she hits back out of pride…a lot of things trigger her. If she is triggered she would hit him first.”

    After a May 21, 2016, argument, which led to Heard obtaining a restraining order against Depp, the actress visited her, Anderson said. The therapist said that she saw bruising on Heard’s face as well as in photos that were shown to her. Heard claimed that Depp threw a phone at her and struck her during the confrontation.

    Depp and Heard are sitting at opposite sides of the Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom. At times during Anderson’s testimony, Depp chewed on what appeared to be a stir stick or straw.

    Johnny Depp’s Childhood Friend Testifies He Didn’t See Amber Heard With Physical Marks Of Abuse After 2016 Argument

    (4/13/22) One of Johnny Depp’s childhood friends testified Wednesday that he never witnessed any physical abuse by the actor, nor did he detect any bruises or marks on Amber Heard’s face when he saw her shortly after a stormy May 21, 2016, argument at their downtown Los Angeles home.

    Taking the stand in the Depp-Heard defamation trial in Fairfax, VA, Isaac Baruch offered some colorful observations and descriptions as he described living next door to Depp and his then-wife in the art deco Eastern Columbia building. The actor had been Baruch’s benefactor as he pursued his art, giving him about $100,000 to support his endeavor.

    Baruch described seeing Heard on May 22 in the aftermath of an argument she’d with Depp the night before.

    He said that Heard told him, “Johnny came by last night and he became violent.”

    Later, he said that he questioned Heard, asking, “He hit you?”

    “And she said, ‘Yeah. He threw a phone at me and hit me.’ And I am looking because I had just seen her two feet away and I am going, ‘Where?'”

    He said that Heard put her head out for him to look at her face.

    “I am looking at the whole thing and I don’t see anything. … I don’t see a cut, bruise, swelling. It’s just Amber’s face.” He also insisted that Heard was not wearing makeup.

    He said that he then made a joke to her. “Well, I don’t see anything, but maybe all the beauty from one side of the face is outshining everything. And she is laughing, smiled. And I just looked at everybody and said, ‘Hey, this sounds nuts.’” He said that he gave her a hug and kissed her on the side of her face.

    Depp sued Heard for defamation over a December 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post in which she wrote that she was a victim of domestic abuse. Although the article did not mention Depp by name, the actor claims that the connection was there, as there had been substantial publicity surrounding the 2016 incident. Later than month, Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp and submitted photographs to the court showing a large bruise on her face.

    Heard has filed a counterclaim in the case. Her attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, challenged Baruch on how he could be so sure that she was not wearing makeup. As she ran through a list of products that Heard uses, including Amici facial cream, he admitted that he was not familiar with them.

    Baruch at times elicited laughs from Depp, sitting just several feet away, and a brief grin from Heard, on the other side of the courtroom, as he described their mutual friendship.

    “I love her,” he said. “I fell in love with her just like Johnny fell in love with her.” Some in the courtroom laughed as he described Heard as having “great teeth.”

    “She treated me with great respect,” adding that they shared “locker room and demented humor.”

    He said that whenever he visited, Heard would offer him something to eat or drink. The exception was once when he came in and she was in a facial mask. “Is that something that can help me. She goes ‘no.'” In the courtroom, Heard smiled for a moment.

    Baruch said that he did witness two verbal arguments between Depp and Heard, but “I did not witness any physical violence.” He said that after he saw the pictures of Heard with bruises on the internet, he thought, “What the hell is this? What is going on?”

    He also grew emotional after Bredehoft asked him if he was still angry over Heard’s claims.

    “Am I angry anymore? What I am is tired, and I want this all to end, her to go heal, him to go heal,” Baruch said. “So many people have been affected by this malicious lie that she started and she created, and it has gone out the door and around the world.”

    Earlier, Depp’s sister, Christi Dembrowski, was asked about a series of texts she sent, seemingly concerned about Depp’s drug and alcohol abuse. In one that she sent to him in February, 2014, she texted, “Stop booze. Stop pills. Stop coke.”

    She said that she didn’t recall the timing of the text, but that she also was concerned about Heard’s accusations against Depp.

    In another instance, also in February 2014, Heard wrote to her, “JD is on a bender.” Dembroski wrote back, “Where are the kids…worry about everything.”

    Under cross-examination, Dembroski said that she was “curious about where the kids were if he wasn’t home.”

    Dembroski wrote in a May 2014 text to Heard, “I love him so much but he needs help.” But Dembroski said that she was concerned over Depp’s use of one painkiller, but told Heard’s attorney that she did not witness “a lot of the behavior that you guys are referencing.” She said that she didn’t recall “having a severe worry around this time.”

    Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Actor’s “Monster” Side Came Out With His Drug & Booze Use, ‘Aquaman’ Star’s Lawyer Says

    (4/12/22) UPDATE, 9:30 AM PT: Opening arguments today in the trial of Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation suit against Amber Heard painted two very distinctly portraits of the actors and their short-lived marriage.

    In a tale of alleged violent abuse, drugs, money, tattoos, infidelity, Marilyn Manson, defecation, couples therapy, and property damage, the Aquaman star’s lead lawyer Elaine Bredhoft pushed back hard on the plaintiff’s POV presented earlier with details of assaults in Australia, plus frequent “paranoid” and “delusional” behavior on the Oscar nominee’s part.

    Heard’s attorneys said that they will show that Johnny Depp was an “obsessed ex-husband hellbent on revenge,” who described “the violent side of himself as the monster” while engaging in “crushing drug and alcohol abuse.”

    “Amber Heard never wanted to unearth for the public who the real Johnny Depp is,” defense lawyer Ben Rottenborn told the 11-person jury seated in the Fairfax County Courthouse Tuesday. “But that’s going to come out over the course of this trial.”

    “You are going to see who the real Johnny Depp is,” Rottenborn added with effect.

    “The monster would come out when he was drinking and when he would take the drugs,” added fellow defense attorney Eliane Bredehoft in vivid remarks on the allegedly escalating abuse by the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star that began early in Depp and Heard’s relationship.

    An element of the “real” Depp that Heard’s lawyer are seeking to display was the accusation in court today that the actor “sexually assaulted” his then wife during their short marriage.”You will hear in the most graphic and horrifying terms about the violence that she suffered,” Rottenborn said of the assault, which has been raised in filings before. “You’ll hear that straight from her.”

    In his March 2019 lawsuit over Heard’s late 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic violence where she referred to herself as abuse survivor, Depp claimed that “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator.” It should be noted that Heard, who divorced from Depp amidst restraining orders and more in 2016, never mention her former husband by name in the op-ed. In the background of all this today in Virginia is Depp’s 2020 dramatic loss in his UK libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun. The paper called the actor a ‘wife beater” in print. A term a British judge said he saw ample evidence for in that trial on the other side of the Atlantic. Getting that matter into this trial is clearly one of the biggest priorities for the defense. Additionally, after various unsuccessful moves to get the Virginia case tossed out, Heard countersued Depp for $100 million.

    Speaking in Old Dominion Judge Penney Azcarate’s courtroom, Rottenborn said that the WaPo piece “isn’t about Johnny Depp. The article is about the social change for which she is advocating and that the First Amendment protects.” The lawyer also challenged the idea that the article cost Depp roles, including the next in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

    “The evidence will show that Disney had a dossier on him, that had articles from the press, had other information about Mr. Depp and they didn’t have this article at all in their files, didn’t register with them, just as it didn’t register with the public.”

    In a modulated performance without notes, Rottenborn stated that “the public had known since 2016 what Amber had to say about Johnny Depp. This didn’t change any of that.”

    Pre-empting the opposition, Bredehoft admitted that Heard did punch Depp on one occasion, as The Tourist actor was in a violent altercation with her sister in the first month of the couple’s marriage. The lawyer also sought to blunt the accusations from the Depp side that Heard reneged on public promises to donate the $7 million settlement she received in the couple’s divorce. “Everyone” knew the money to the ACLU and LA’s Children Hospital was intended to be paid in “installments.” Turning the spotlight on to the actor again, Bredehoft also said that they would show that the well publicized incident where Depp’s finger was severed was actually an act of “self-mutilation.”

    As the attorney outlined to the jury, in graphic detail, Depp’s heavy use of booze and drugs, the actor was sitting just a couple of feet away. At one moment, he appeared to stop himself from cringing. On other occasions, Depp leaned over to whisper into the ear of Ben Chew, one of his own lawyers.

    Bredehoft also outlined their case for defamation, arguing that the claims that she was making up her allegations of abuse impacted her career, just as she was emerging from the success of Aquaman. Her co-stars in the latter movie “are getting commercials, they’re getting all kinds of different film opportunities. These are the things she would have gotten. Nobody will touch her. She’s a pariah.”

    “We’re going to ask you … to hold Mr. Depp responsible, enough is enough,” she said.

    In the court of PR opinion, Depp may still have some traction, thinks one industry vet.

    “Johnny Depp is one of the best actors of our generation,” PR crisis management specialist Gary Rosen told Deadline today. “It’s unfortunate that his latest starring roles feature his legal battles getting center stage,” the Judith Sheindlin rep notes. “Once that is over, I think if Johnny channels some of his inner Captain Jack Sparrow he can make his A-List career sail again to new heights.”

    The trial is expected to last about six weeks. Christi Dembrowski, Depp’s older sister, will be the first witness to take the stand, with more character witnesses expected tomorrow including artist Isaac Baruch, a longtime pal of Depp’s who lived rent free in an apartment owned by the actor during his marriage to Heard. Baruch, who testified via video link in the UK libel trial, is on both Depp and Heard’s witness lists.

    PREVIOUSLY: Johnny Depp’s attorneys told jurors that “his name is associated with a lie,” characterizing his ex-wife Amber Heard’s claims of domestic abuse as false accusations that lack any evidence and even suggesting that her 2018 Washington Post op-ed was written to reap publicity from her upcoming movie Aquaman.

    Reading from her written notes, attorney Camile Vasquez told jurors that when Heard “took on the role of a lifetime” when she accused Depp of abuse and “painted herself before the world as a representative of abuse victims everywhere.”

    “She can’t back down. She has been living and breathing this lie for years now. And she has been preparing to give the performance of her life in this trial. But this trial is about the evidence. It is about the evidence. It’s about a man’s reputation.”

    In his statement, attorney Benjamin Chew signaled that his team would focus on the veracity of her claims that he was physically abusive with her during an argument on May 21, 2016, after he said he wanted a divorce.

    “The evidence will show that six days after Mr. Depp requested a divorce, and he did so politely, and three days after Ms. Heard’s lawyer threatened Mr. Depp with claims of abuse if he did not agree to her financial demands, Ms. Heard arrived at the courthouse in Los Angeles, California to file for a restraining order alleging abuse,” Chew said. “The evidence will show that Ms. Heard showed up with a mark on her face that mysteriously appeared six days after she last saw Mr. Depp and six days before she publicly filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order alleging abuse.”

    He added, “The evidence will show that her publicist and the paparazzi were there at the courthouse to document the event, to make sure that Johnny Depp’s name was forever associated with the image of an innocent, battered woman.” Two years later, in December, 2016, Heard wrote an op ed in The Washington Post, headlined “I Spoke Up Against Sexual Violence — And Faced Our Culture’s Wrath. That Has To Change.” Although Depp was not mentioned in the article, Chew said that the connection was clear.

    “A false allegation can devastate a career and it can devastate a family,” Chew said. “And the evidence will show that Ms. Heard’s false allegations had a significant impact on Mr. Depp’s family and his ability to work in the profession he loved, and loved to bring joy to everyone.”

    As Chew spoke, Heard was on the other side of the courtroom, peering down at a legal pad. Depp, in a black suit and shirt and white tie, occasionally swiveled in his chair.

    Another attorney for Depp, Camille Vasquez, said that Depp himself was a survivor of his mother’s angry rages. “You will learn from Mr. Depp’s sister, Christie, and from Mr. Depp, that their mother, Betty Sue, lived in a constant state of anger that would boil over daily in viscous words and violence directed and her husband and the children.” She said that Depp “coped with that abuse in the same way his father did — he just took it. The evidence will show that Mr. Depp learned that the best way to deal with violence was to leave.

    Vasquez also said that they would challenge the veracity of photos of Heard’s injuries, and that it was Heard who was violent.

    She became so violent, in fact, she threw a vodka bottle at him that hit his hand and exploded. It severed the end of one of his fingers,” Vasquez said. As she described Depp’s injuries, he flinched for a half second.

    Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard Picks Jury; Opening Arguments Start Tmrw

    (4/11/22) 2nd UPDATE, 12:25 PM: A Virginia jury in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation suit against Amber Heard was empaneled this afternoon after a rather brisk selection process.

    Eleven members were selected for the trial, expected to last six weeks. Seven members ultimately will deliberate, with four members selected at random to serve as alternates at the end of testimony and closing arguments.

    With Depp and Heard in the courtroom, potential jurors were asked this morning in the Fairfax County Courthouse about their prior knowledge of the high profile former couple, Heard’s sexuality and other such topics by lawyers from both sides. Once a jury was selected, Judge Penney Azcarate instructed those chosen to take notes or rely on their memory. She cautioned jurors that testimony transcripts will not be allowed to be read back to them during their deliberations.

    Having first been accused of defaming Depp in March 2019 after a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic violence, Heard countersued her ex-husband for $100 million in the summer of 2020 after losing in several attempts to have the initial case tossed out.

    Proceedings in Virginia have concluded for the day, but the trial will take place from Monday to Thursday and will be off on Fridays. There also will be a break from May 9-12 as Judge Azcarate attends a previously scheduled judicial conference.

    1st Update, 9:42 AM: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard watched — but didn’t appear to make eye contact — as their attorneys questioned potential jurors.

    An issue is the pre-trial media publicity and, in some instances, potential jurors who have heard strong opinions about the case.

    As the judge and attorneys queried potential jurors who had heard about the case, one man shared that this morning that he had texted his wife about the chance that he might be assigned to the Depp-Heard trial. Under questioning, the man read his wife’s response: “Amber is psychotic. If a man says a woman beat him, they never believe him.”

    As Heard’s attorneys asked him if he could still be impartial, despite what his wife said, the man said that he could. “She tends to exaggerate.” The man also was asked whether his wife would be upset with him if he sided with Depp. “She gets mad at me all the time,” he said. But he said that his wife would understand if he explained the circumstances of the case after it is all over.

    He was left in the pool.

    One potential juror was dismissed after he said that he had heard general details that Depp “was beating her and lying about things.” When asked if he could keep an open mind, he said, “I’ll try to.”

    Several potential jurors said that they had sought out information about the case in recent days because they were curious why it was taking place in Fairfax, near where they live. One woman said her co-workers were talking about the trial but, knowing that she had jury duty, she walked away. “It was just more of the excitement of a Hollywood trial.” She was kept in the pool.

    PREVIOUSLY, 5:15 AM: Over the next six weeks, the trial of Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard that commences today could prove to be the biggest roles of the former couple’s careers.

    With the intention to pick a jury by end of day, and opening arguments to begin in front of Virginia Judge Penney Azcarate tomorrow, the already well-covered case will almost certainly quickly be under appeal no matter who wins in this long delayed round. As fired Fantastic Beasts star Depp tries to figuratively flip his November 2020 UK loss in a “wife beater” libel action against Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun, Heard has a $100 million countersuit looming too.

    Among an extensive and somewhat star-studded witness list submitted to the Fairfax County docket, both Depp and Heard are set to testify with the Pirates of the Caribbean actor expected to go first. Suited and booted, both Depp and Heard slipped into the Fairfax County Courthouse this morning

    Also at the courthouse today, about 20 spectators, mainly Depp fans, lined up to get one of the seats to witness the trial.

    Among them was Jacintya Gillespie, 52, who said that she arrived last night after traveling from her home in Brisbane, Australia. She said that she has rented an AirBnB and plans to stay for a month.

    “I took leave to come and stand by Johnny’s side, mostly after the UK farce because I was really disgusted by that outcome,” she said, referring to Depp’s case against The Sun. “I looked at all of the evidence that he had and it was so obvious to me what happened in that situation, but that judge just ignored all his evidence and I felt that was disgusting.”

    She added, “I believe Johnny Depp is a pure soul, and I believe he always tells the truth. So that is why I am here to support him because I don’t think somebody’s reputation should be ruined on the basis of lies, which I think is what Amber Heard has perpetrated.”

    Tiffany Lunn of St. Mary’s County, MD, held a neon pink sign that read “Wish he never Heard!!” The blue side of the sign featured a picture of Depp behind bars and the words, “Justice for Johnny.” Some spectators held tiny skull and bones pirate flags in support.

    Cindy Lewis, 59, said that she traveled from Sioux Falls, SD. She said that she was “very sad that he had to endure what she did to him. And she needs to pay for what she did, what she said. All of it. Angry. He never deserved any of that. Nothing.”

    Inside the courthouse, sheriff’s deputies chatted a bit about the incoming celebrity presence. “Johnny Depp — hey, Jack Sparrow!” one told a colleague in anticipation. The county has carefully prepared for possible large crowds, with media assigned to a spot across the street from the post-modern courthouse entrance.

    This fierce battle between Depp and Heard, who divorced in 2016 amidst restraining orders and media frenzy began when the former sued the latter in March 2019 in the Old Dominion for a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic abuse and the fallout that victims can be subjected to. The article by the ACLU ambassador on women’s rights never mentioned Depp by name, but in his subsequent filing the Oscar nominated actor claimed the piece cost him lucrative roles and “devastated” his career. Claiming he in fact was the abused party, the much litigious Depp said Heard’s allegations against him were “part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”

    Since the Spring 2019 complaint, which originally featured the Jeff Bezos-owned WaPo as a defendant, both sides have fought tooth and nail, getting very explicit in the courts and the court of public opinion. Heard even tried to have the U.S. matter tossed out based on the UK libel case. Heard was not a party to the damning UK libel case, which Depp has failed to successfully appeal. Yet, she did testify in the high profile British action and won praise for her character from the judge in the British matter.

    Before that, failing to get the suit moved to California or dismissed, Heard countersued Depp in 2020. As a part of the countersuit, Heard’s lawyers asserted her ex-husband’s close associate and former lawyer Adam Waldman defamed her in remarks to the press. There is also the matter of private communications like Depp’s texts to Avengers alum and anticipated witness Paul Bettany exclaiming a desire to “drown” and “burn” Heard. “I will f*ck her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead,” Depp added of Heard to his sometimes debauchery buddy. Those texts were read out aloud to varying degrees of reaction in the UK case.

    “He threatened to ruin her career and inflict global humiliation upon her, and after losing in the UK, this is his last gasp attempt,” a source familiar with the Heard camp told Deadline before today’s proceedings started. “A jury verdict against Johnny will send a message to the millions of women out there who suffer from intimate partner violence every single day, that they can move safely on with their lives. And it will allow Amber to move on as well.”

    Though Heard’s Elaine Charlson Bredehof-led legal team are also certain to argue that the UK case is relevant to the Virginia case, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Azcarate has followed precedent and excluded much of it from being presented to the as-yet to be seated jury, at least for now. Of course, under American law, the high burden is on Depp to establish comprehensively that Heard defamed and damaged him with her op-ed — no easy task.

    “He’s not trying to punish her and humiliate her,” says a source close to the Brown Ruddick LLP represented Depp. “He just wants the truth to come out. He wants to clear his name, and this is the forum in which he has chosen to do so, in a court of law, where she is a party, and in the UK, she was not a party in that.”

    Court TV To Televise Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Defamation Trial

    (4/5/22) Court TV will carry the televised feed of the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, which is scheduled to begin next week in Fairfax County, VA.

    The network will be the pool feed provider for the trial, and plans to provide coverage of the proceedings.

    Ethan Nelson, Acting Head of Court TV, said in a statement, “Court cases that are as high-profile as this one often create a lot of noise, and it can be difficult for viewers to break through these distractions to have a clear picture of the facts, but that’s where we come in.”

    Depp filed a $50 million defamation suit against Heard after she wrote a Washington Post essay in 2018, headlined “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” Although the essay didn’t mention Depp by name, he claims that it damaged his reputation and cost him a role in another Pirates of the Caribbean. Heard has filed a counterclaim.

    The trial is scheduled to begin on Monday. The pool feed will be available after jury selection is completed. Court Tv previously has served the pool team provider for the Derek Chauvin and Kim Potter trial, as well as the trial of the three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery. Court TV’s team includes anchors Vinnie Politan, Julie Grant, Michael Ayala, Ted Rowlands and Ashley Willcott, along with correspondents Julia Jenaé, Chanley Painter and Joy Lim Nakrin.

    Johnny Depp Suffers Big Loss In $100M Defamation Battle With Amber Heard As Trial Looms

    (3/24/22) Less than a month before the long-delayed trial in Johnny Depp’s multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard is set to start, the former Pirates of the Caribbean star took a hit Thursday in his efforts to hobble his ex-wife’s defense and $100 million countersuit.

    In a short-ish hearing, Virginia Judge Penney Azcarate ruled against Depp’s summary judgment motion and said the Aquaman star can in fact utilize the state’s anti-SLAPP statute in the matter.

    While today’s outcome doesn’t grant Heard immunity for what she wrote in an 2018 Washington Post op-ed that kicked off this brawl between the former spouses and Rum Diary co-stars, it does mean that her attorneys can argue Heard is deserving of such immunity in front of the jury — and that undercuts a large swath of Depp’s legal strategy going into the trial that is scheduled to start April 11.

    Part of the irony is that today’s ruling not only empowers Heard’s defense and her countersuit claiming defamation from Depp and his representatives, but that the litigious Depp sued Heard and the Jeff Bezos-owned Post in Virginia because of the state’s relatively light-handed anti-SLAPP law. In no small part because of the $50 million suit Depp launched in March 2019, the state strengthened that law. Now, Virginia’s anti-SLAPP measure ensures immunity from civil liability for statements about matters of public concern that would be protected under the First Amendment.

    The Washington Post has long been removed as a defendant in this case.

    Unlike a past attempt by Depp to slip out of Heard’s 2020 countersuit, Azcarate on Thursday said that Heard’s Post piece about domestic violence does rise to the level of an issue of public concern. That is vital for the actress as it reframes the legal dispute.

    Depp’s team has pushed the point that the defamation is of a private nature and therefore not covered by the anti-SLAPP law (SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation).

    It should be noted that Heard’s op-ed never actually mentions Depp by name.

    Of course, coming out of a 2016 split that involved restraining orders, a $7 million payout and more, Depp has insisted the article implicates him. Claiming “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” Depp’s spring 2019 suit even alleged the op-ed cost him a lucrative role in a potential relaunching of the Pirates franchise by Disney.

    Both Depp and Heard have weathered ups and downs in the matter.

    Heard failed in her moves to get the suit moved to California and dismissed, before countersuing Depp in September 2020. After losing his UK libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid in November 2020 after calling him a “wife beater” (an appeal was denied in March 2021), Depp also came up short in January 2021 in his desire to see Heard’s big-bucks countersuit tossed out.

    Now the real show is about to begin.

    Johnny Depp & Amber Heard’s $100M Legal War Calls James Franco, Paul Bettany, Elon Musk, Disney & Warner Bros Reps As Witnesses At Trial; Jason Momoa & Bryan Lourd Emails Added To Court Docket

    (3/19/22) There likely won’t be a red carpet rolled out in front of the Fairfax County courthouse, but some big names are coming to Johnny Depp’s now $100 million defamation battle with ex-wife Amber Heard when the long delayed trial starts next month.

    If the three-year old and counting case survives the latest summary judgement motion set for a March 24 hearing, James Franco, WandaVision star Paul Bettany, Elon Musk and representatives of the Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros, and the LAPD will be joining friends, family, lawyers and other associates of the formerly-married Rum Diary co-stars in the Virginia courtroom. Additionally, the private correspondence of Depp and Heard with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and power players will be laid out for the public to see.

    Kicked off by a $50 million defamation suit filed by the one-time Pirates of the Caribbean star back in March 2019 over a Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence which was penned by Heard in late 2018, the bitter and increasingly scorched-Earth dispute between the couple is presently set to go to trial starting April 11.

    After failing to both get the matter moved to California and dismissed, the Aquaman star countersued her litigious ex-husband for $100 million in September 2020. After losing his UK libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid in November 2020 for calling him a “wife beater,” and denied an appeal in March 2021, Depp also came up short in January 2021 in his desire to see Heard’s big bucks countersuit tossed out.

    Currently both Depp and Heard are planning to take the stand, in-person, in Judge Penney S. Azcarate’s courtroom during the trial, which is expected to last a little less than two weeks. Both Franco and SpaceX boss Musk were dragged into this case by Depp, who accused them of having affairs with Heard. They’re now on Heard’s witness list; The 2011 Oscar nominee and one of the world’s richest men will speak to the court via WebEx video link.

    Having given a scathing deposition in Depp’s UK libel case almost two years ago, Ellen Barkin is on Heard’s witness list in this trial, too.

    Submitted to the Virginia state court on March 15, Heard’s list sees the Animal Kingdom actress participating via a deposition in this case, as will Depp’s fired (and sued) ex-lawyer Jacob Bloom. A Praetorian Guard including a “Custodian of Records/Corporate Designee” for Warner Bros, the LAPD, the ACLU, Disney and WME Entertainment will offer business records declarations as a part of the proceedings.

    Avengers alum and Depp pal Paul Bettany is on the 21 Jump Street actor’s March 14 submitted 38-subject witness list to give testimony “via video link.” Ignominiously drawn into Depp’s UK trial with the reading of extensive texts between the duo that detailed “burning”, “drowning,” and having sex with the “burnt corpse” of Heard, Bettany is not a witness for the actress

    However, Bettany’s 2015 correspondence with Depp is on Heard’s 1530-item exhibit list.

    What is also on that wide-ranging exhibit list are texts between Heard and her Aguaman co-star Jason Momoa and director James Wan. There is correspondence with original Justice League helmer Zack Synder, and 2018 emails by CAA kingpin Bryan Lourd are on the list. Emails between Depp and Fantastic Beasts creator J.K. Rowling as well as musician Jack White are included, as well.

    Articles by a number of outlets — including this 2016 Deadline piece — on the Depp/Heard marriage and corresponding legal dust-ups are to be found on the exhibit list too, along with years’ of tax returns and film contracts. There are also hours of security camera footage, plus a number of photographs of a seemingly bruised and battered Heard and snaps of drugs allegedly belonging to Depp.

    All in all, between the witness lists and the extensive exhibit list from Heard’s attorney Eliane Bredehoft, there look to be few rocks left undisturbed at this point. And we haven’t even seen an exhibit list yet from Depp.

    Filing the case initially a few years after he and Heard split amidst restraining orders and a $7 million settlement from the actor, Depp has shared his POV on the relationship.

    “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” Depp’s spring 2019 suit declared.

    Since then, through the legal ups and downs, Depp and his legal team and advisors have consistently proclaimed Heard a liar and questioned how much of that $7 million settlement she actually donated to L.A.’s Children Hospital Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, as promised.

    The intent of probing the charity donations has clearly been to undermine Heard’s credibility. The move gained some traction in early 2021 when Heard’s top lawyer admitted it wasn’t all as straightforward as advertised.

    “Amber has already been responsible for seven figures in donations to charitable causes and intends to continue to contribute and eventually fulfill her pledge,” the Reston, VA located Bredehoft told Deadline at the time.

    As his fans have repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to have Heard tossed off film projects, Hollywood Vampires guitarist Depp has been on a tour over the last year of farther afield festivals, where he has plead his case to the public.

    “It doesn’t matter if a judgement, per se, has taken some artistic license,” the fired Fantastic Beats actor told the San Sebastian Film Festival last September on the subject of so-called cancel culture and his own diminished career. “When there’s an injustice, whether it’s against you or someone you love, or someone you believe in – stand up, don’t sit down.”

    What’s more, in a likely career-defining instance, Depp himself will be sitting down in court next month to help argue his long festering case – for better or worse.

    ‘Minamata’ With Johnny Depp Gets Long Delayed Theatrical Release

    (2/12/22) Minamata, the Andrew Levitas film starring Johnny Depp, is getting a U.S. theatrical release this weekend with 27 runs, a full year after it was first skedded for U.S. screens.

    Depp plays Eugene Smith, a famed photojournalist who has disconnected from the world but takes a final assignment from his Life magazine editor (Bill Nighy) in 1971 to travel to Japan and expose decades of horrific corporate malfeasance by a big chemical company. It’s an important issue movie propelled by a big star whose image took a tumble amid the ugly shrapnel of his “wife-beater” libel suit, dooming the film to a much delayed release and small opening run.

    It’s playing New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Tampa, Miami, Denver, Cleveland, Orlando, Sacramento, Portland, Raleigh, Charlotte, Knoxville, Austin, Albuquerque and Cincinnati. Distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films said expansion is to be determined.

    SGF with Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment (ILBE) announced in early December that they had acquired North American rights, which previously belonged to MGM. Minamata premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 and MGM had initially slated a U.S. release in Feb. of 2021. That came and went. It was released in international markets.

    By July, Levitas was publicly protesting that MGM was “burying” Minamata due to Depp’s well publicized off-screen issues. In August, Depp also decried the non-release, saying the film deserved to be seen but was shelved because he was being “boycotted” by Hollywood.

    Depp has been embroiled in a long legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard. Last spring, the actor lost his attempt to overturn a U.K. court ruling that concluded he had assaulted his ex-wife. (A judge ruled against Depp in his libel case against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater.”) Warner Bros dropped the actor from its Fantastic Beasts franchise following the failed appeal.

    Last August, a Virginia judge ruled that Depp could proceed in a separate $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard.

    In an interview with Deadline, Levitas reiterated his disappointment that the film wasn’t out sooner given the import of its subject matter.

    “In this instance, you have the opportunity to make change, to really help and support people, like the Minamata victims,” he said. “It’s 50 years later, and [they] are still fighting to be recognized in Japan.” Others around the world are waging similar “parts-per-million” battles (the number of units of mass of a contaminant per million units of total mass.). “Everything you drink or eat, how it is determined whether it’s allowed or not, is parts per million – of arsenic in water, of mercury in water, of whatever.”

    When Smith arrived in the coastal city of Minamata, Chisso Corp.’s factory had been dumping mercury-poisoned wastewater into the bay for three decades, ravaging locals through the fish they ate. One of Smith’s many images, Tomoko In Her Bath, of a mother cradling her severely deformed daughter, is considered iconic in photojournalism.

    Smith died in 1978. Levitas found his way into the film through the extensive W. Eugene Smith Archive at the Center for Creative Photography in Arizona. For every photo published, he said, “there are a hundred photos in front of and behind that. It’s a wonderful opportunity to get inside the artist’s mind and see what he saw and follow his story in real time.”

    Johnny Depp To Star As French King Louis XV In Feature Directed By Maiwenn

    (1/21/22) Johnny Depp is set to portray French king Louis XV in an untitled historical drama set to co-star Maiwenn (Polisse), who is also helming the project, according to numerous reports in French press.

    Miawenn will play a mistress of the king, Jeanne du Barry, who was beheaded during the French Revolution. Further plot details are being kept under wraps. French magazine Closer, which broke the news, reports that filming will take place from July 8 in Paris, including some scenes shot at the famous palace of Versailles.

    Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, recorded the second longest reign in French history, ruling the country from 1715 to 1774, when he died, likely of smallpox.

    French actress and filmmaker Miawenn recently helmed DNA, which was selected for the 2020 Cannes Label after the fest was forced to cancel due to Covid.

    For Depp, the role would mark one of his first significant parts since the damaging libel case in UK high court, which saw the actor branded a “wife beater” after the court rejected his legal team’s argument that The Sun tabloid had libelled him by using the term to describe his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard. The public legal battle, which is set to continue in the U.S., has made Depp persona non grata in certain industry circles, including Warner Bros removing him from its Fantastic Beasts franchise.

    In Europe, however, Depp remains a popular figure. Last year, he was honored by major festivals including San Sebastian and Karlovy Vary, and the film with Maiwenn could be the beginning of a comeback campaign for the actor on that side of the pond.

    Johnny Depp Movie ‘Minamata’ Is Finally Getting A U.S. Release, But Not With MGM

    (12/1/21) Johnny Depp movie Minamata is finally getting a U.S. release, we can reveal, but not from MGM which had previously acquired the film.

    Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment (ILBE) are now teaming up with Samuel Goldwyn Films to give the movie a North American release in theaters beginning December 15. The platformed release is due to extend across U.S. and Canada into 2022 and the team are looking to position it for awards consideration.

    This update comes after the film’s director, Andrew Levitas, complained earlier this year that MGM was “burying” Minamata due to Depp’s well publicized off-screen issues. You can read the filmmaker’s impassioned letter to the studio here. Depp also decried the non-release in an interview in August in which he said the film deserved to be seen but was shelved because he was being “boycotted” by Hollywood.

    Minamata charts the true story of acclaimed war photographer W. Eugene Smith (played by Depp) who traveled back to Japan in the 1970s to document the devastating effect of mercury poisoning in local communities by a major corporation which dumped chemicals into their waterways.

    The film got its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 and the filmmakers had expected MGM to release it earlier this year after it was acquired in fall 2020 for the studio’s American International Pictures label. The feature has been released in a host of international markets but MGM stalled on the domestic release, which had initially been set for February 5. Recently, the filmmakers were finally able to renegotiate a deal to make sure it got a domestic audience. We reached out to MGM for clarity on the non-release but the studio declined to comment.

    Director-writer-producer Levitas told us today: “I am thrilled that North American audiences will finally be able to learn about what happened and continues to happen in Minamata and around the world. The silencing of marginalized voices and those left behind (as well artists) by large corporate behemoths has to end, and with new like-minded partners this story will finally come to light in North America and hopefully offer some peace to the victims and their families who have been put through far too much.”

    ILBE, owned by prolific producing duo Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi, is a public entertainment company listed on the AIM Italia market of the Italian Stock Exchange. The duo previously backed Depp’s 2019 movie Waiting For The Barbarians, which was also released domestically by ILBE and Samuel Goldwyn.

    Andrea Iervolino said today: “Anchored by standout performances and stunning direction and craft artistry, Minamata is the kind of purposeful storytelling that sinks in with audiences and a movie they will appreciate seeing. We’re thrilled to be able to orchestrate a release campaign alongside Samuel Goldwyn that will invite audiences into this story.”

    Depp has had a turbulent 18 months. In March, the actor lost an attempt to overturn a UK High Court ruling that concluded he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard. The actor was dropped by Warner Bros from its Fantastic Beasts franchise following the UK verdict. He remains engaged in a related U.S. legal battle with Heard.

    Also starring in Minamata are Bill Nighy, Minami, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jun Kunimura, Ryo Kase, Asano Tadanobu and Akiko Iwase.

    Pic was written by David K. Kessler, Stephen Deuters, Levitas and Jason Forman. Producers are Levitas for Metalwork Pictures and Depp for Infinitum Nihil, as well as Sam Sarkar, Bill Johnson, and Kevan Van Thompson.

    Samuel Goldwyn Films was behind the U.S. releases for 2021 Oscar winner Another Round and 2021 Oscar nominee The Man Who Sold His Skin.

    ‘Johnny Vs Amber’: Johnny Depp And Amber Heard Relationship Breakdown To Be Spotlighted In Discovery+ Doc

    (11/19/21) Discovery+ is to tell the story of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship breakdown from each of their viewpoints in a two-part documentary from All3Media indie Optomen entitled Johnny vs. Amber.

    The celebrity court case of the decade will first introduce Depp’s side, how he felt he was married to a Machiavellian liar who would stop at nothing to protect her image, before Heard’s episode explains how the actress married the man of her dreams only to see him turn into a violent drug-fueled monster.

    The doc will feature interviews with lawyers on both sides along with people close to the pair and extensive archive and audio footage.

    Nick Hornby and Fran Baker are exec producing for UK Crazy Delicious producer Optomen, with Matt Reid exec-ing for Discovery.

    Hornby said: “Through the tapes, home videos and text messages shown in court, these films give viewers a rare and important insight into a marriage that went tragically wrong, and to better understand the hugely important issue of domestic violence.”

    Johnny Depp wins bid for Amber Heard phone records to prove ‘fake’ assault pics

    (11/4/21) A court has given Johnny Depp access to his ex-wife Amber Heard’s phone — which he hopes will prove she faked injuries he allegedly gave her.

    The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star — who is waging a $50 million libel suit against Heard — claims she doctored photos purporting to show her with two black eyes, which she says she suffered in 2015 at the hands of the actor.

    “Ms. Heard’s counsel has repeatedly used these phony photographs at deposition,” Depp’s lawyer Benjamin Chew alleged to the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Va., in a court filing.

    Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 35, in Virginia over a 2019 op-ed in the Washington Post by the “Aquaman” actress, in which she wrote about domestic violence — but which he believes was a libelous attack on him.

    Though she never mentioned Depp’s name in the article, Heard has elsewhere claimed that she suffered two black eyes, a broken nose and a broken lip at his hands during a 2015 attack in Los Angeles, with photos of the alleged injuries published around the world.

    Chew, however, claims that when the LAPD responded to the alleged beating, “they found no injury upon Ms. Heard and no disruption to the penthouses.

    “Ms. Heard and her friends then fabricated photos that she used to obtain an ex parte TRO [temporary restraining order] and a $7 million divorce settlement which Ms. Heard falsely testified in London she gave to the ACLU and, more scandalously, to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles; sick children with cancer,” Chew alleged in his filing.

    He added that the LAPD “disavowed the photographs” and “said they did not depict what they saw.”

    The Virginia court ruled Wednesday that Depp’s team can have an expert look at the phone and see if they can find evidence of any photo tampering.

    Chew had argued that earlier images given to Depp’s legal team came without any metadata, so their expert, Brian Neumeister, could not verify the details.

    “Mr. Neumeister’s preliminary investigation shows that a number of the photographs have been run through a photo — a photo editing application called Photo 3 that can easily manipulate images such as showing bruises where none actually existed,” said Chew.

    In November 2020, Depp lost his libel case against the UK’s Sun newspaper over an article that called him a “wife beater.”

    The judge, Mr. Justice Nicol, said the Sun had proved that what was in the article was “substantially true” and found that 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence had occurred.

    In March, Depp was refused permission to appeal against the ruling.

    However, in his new Virginia court filing, Chew argued that the Sun’s own expert concluded that Heard’s photographs that showed injuries to her face from December 2015 “were manipulated three years later.”

    He said the expert found that photos from an iPad Pro 10.5 were created on or after October 6, 2018, adding: “As such, any editing of the trial bundle versions would have been on or after Oct. 6 2018.

    “So Ms. Heard or someone on her behalf doctored those photographs three years later. When that came up in her testimony in London, Ms. Heard falsely denied it. In short, Your Honor, without forensic imaging Mr. Neumeister cannot properly assess or verify Ms. Heard’s data,” he claimed.

    The court was told she appeared on James Corden’s chat show the day after the alleged attack — with Heard claiming she was wearing heavy makeup to hide the bruising.

    In the December 2019 op-ed at the heart of the lawsuit, Heard — who was married to the actor from 2015 to 2017 — wrote that she had “become a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

    Depp’s name isn’t mentioned, but the piece was widely interpreted as being about him. The actress wrote that she “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.”

    In response, Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman said the column was an “abuse of the #MeToo movement” and claimed Heard “masquerades as victim rather than abuser.”

    The suit claims that Depp has suffered financial losses because of the accusations, including being dropped from his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films.

    The judge Wednesday also denied that Depp should have to hand over his phone and laptop, saying Heard’s attorneys had asked for “too broad” a search.

    Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft told Page Six that Heard, “welcomes the opportunity to present her evidence in a trial by jury, in a court of law” next year — while claiming that Depp and his legal team are attempting to try the case via the media.

    “This is a dirty strategy (after having been found to have committed multiple significant acts of domestic violence against Amber Heard) by Mr. Depp’s legal team, to present false claims while avoiding accusations of defamation because of judicial immunity,” Bredehoft said.

    “While legal hearings are protected from defamation, they are not protected from leaks to the press, which is exactly Mr. Depp’s intention – even though he lost every one of these arguments in the UK trial – his first choice of forum – he is trying to interject out-of-context and already proven to be false pieces from his unsuccessful efforts in court to attempt to deceive the public, pretending these issues have not already been fully tried, in his court of choice, where he lost.

    “Now, in yet another court of law, he is unable to submit his own evidence because he has nothing to prove his claims.”

    Johnny Depp Says Cancel Culture Is “So Far Out Of Hand” & “No One Is Safe”, Asks People To “Stand Up” Against “Injustice”

    (9/22/21) Johnny Depp went on the record today saying that he is a victim of cancel culture and that “no one is safe” from the movement, calling on people to “stand up” for people facing “injustice”.

    “It can be seen as an event in history that lasted for however long it lasted, this cancel culture, this instant rush to judgement based on what essentially amounts to polluted air,” he commented ahead of receiving the honorary Donostia Award at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

    “It’s so far out of hand now that I can promise you that no one is safe. Not one of you. No one out that door. No one is safe,” he continued. “It takes one sentence and there’s no more ground, the carpet has been pulled. It’s not just me that this has happened to, it’s happened to a lot of people. This type of thing has happened to women, men. Sadly at a certain point they begin to think that it’s normal. Or that it’s them. When it’s not.”

    In what appeared to be a reference to his high-profile libel case with UK newspaper The Sun over its branding of him as a “wife-beater”, which he lost last year, Depp said, “It doesn’t matter if a judgement, per se, has taken some artistic license. When there’s an injustice, whether it’s against you or someone you love, or someone you believe in – stand up, don’t sit down. ‘Cause they need you.”

    Fallout from the UK verdict included Warner Bros dropping Depp from its Fantastic Beasts franchise. The star has a blockbuster $50M defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard scheduled to go to trial in the U.S. next year; Heard is pursuing a $100M counterclaim. More on that here.

    Depp was fairly low-energy during today’s press conference but seemed willing to engage with attending journalists, clapping everyone in the room when he arrived, and didn’t appear to have an issue with addressing sensitive topics, which tend to dog the actor at this stage in his career.

    The festival, however, was having none of it. The next question from press addressed the criticism of the fest for handing Depp a Donostia, particularly from Spain’s Association of Female Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media, which released a statement saying the award “transmits a terrible message to the public”.

    Before Depp could open his mouth in response, the host of the conference rejected the question out of hand and told press in the room to stick to questions about the actor’s career.

    Depp later admitted that he was “worried” that his presence at the festival this year “would offend people” and that he “didn’t want to offend anyone”. He praised the event, its director Jose Luis Rebordinos, and the mayor of San Sebastian for their “undying support” and for “not buying what has been, for far too long, some notion of me that doesn’t exist”.

    “I haven’t done anything, I just make movies,” Depp added.

    The actor was allowed to respond to a question about his view on the film biz in 2021. “Hollywood is certainly not what it was,” he responded. “The studio system, the grudge matches, the pandemonium and chaos of cinematic releases to streaming… it is a case of, ‘no matter what, I’m going to get mine’. That’s where these people are coming from.”

    “They realize they’re just a disposable as I am. Some more so,” he continued. “Large, large corporations take control of these things. As someone who takes part in the creation of cinema, how much more formula do we need from the likes of studios? How much more condescension do we need as audiences? I think that Hollywood has grotesquely underestimated the audience.”

    It was evident during the presser that the room was filled with Depp fans. Indeed, the actor’s reputation seems to have taken less of a hit in many European countries, in comparison with the U.S. and UK (where of course he still has plenty of fans).

    At one point, he was asked about the future of his famed role Captain Jack Sparrow, with Depp responding that the character would never leave him, and that no one could ever take the character away from him. Depp then delivered an impromptu Jack Sparrow rendition on the stage, much to the delight of the attending crowd.

    Divorce docs show Johnny Depp was ‘abandoned’ by ‘mean’ mom as a teen

    (9/16/21) Newly unearthed court documents show Johnny Depp was abandoned by his “mean” mom as a teen.

    In 1981 court papers, which until now had been buried in court archives, between Betty Sue Depp and the actor’s father John Depp — who divorced in 1978 when he was 15 — it is claimed her son was “emancipated and self-supporting”.

    But in interviews, the actor has painted a different picture. He began using drugs at 11, dropped out of high school aged 16 to become a musician and in 1980 began playing guitar in a band called The Kids, moving to Los Angeles and spending months living in a car. His first acting role came in 1984’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” after meeting Nicolas Cage.

    The divorce document, signed in 1981, states, “The wife hereby acknowledges that the parties’ minor child … John C. Depp II is fully emancipated and self-supporting.”

    The papers were uncovered by Hollywood fixer Paul Barresi in his research for the new Discovery+ series “Johnny Depp v Amber Heard.” Barresi said, “He said since age 11, he’s taken all manner of substances, including marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, prescription painkillers, opiates and magic mushrooms. His drug use, he said, was a way to escape family problems.

    “He struggled to find gigs in a garage band and peddled ink pens working part-time as a telemarketer.

    “Needless to say, at age 17, Johnny was hardly financially self-sufficient, and far from being emancipated. As far as I am concerned, his mother disowned him at a time when he unquestionably needed her most.

    “There is no court record of him ever having been legally emancipated.”

    Depp told Rolling Stone in 2018 of his mother, who died in 2016, “My mom was born in a f—ing holler in eastern Kentucky … Her poor f—ing ass was on phenobarbital at 12.”

    He said his father, a civil engineer, was largely absent, and his mother raised him and his three siblings. But his childhood was unhappy.

    “Yeah, there were irrational beatings,” Depp said, “Maybe it’s an ashtray coming your way. Maybe you’re gonna get clunked with the phone.

    “It was a ghost house — no one talked. I don’t think there ever was a way I thought about people, especially women, other than ‘I can fix them.’”

    He recalled rubbing his mother’s feet after she came home from double shifts at her waitressing job. And he bought her a small horse farm in Kentucky with one of his first big payouts from his acting work.

    “Betty Sue, I worshipped her,” Depp, now 58, concluded, but “she could be a real bitch on wheels.”

    He added he said at her 2016 funeral: “My mom was maybe the meanest human being I have ever met in my life.”

    Depp — who recently said Hollywood was “boycotting him” over his ongoing legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard — in August was granted the green light to press libel charges against Heard in the US despite a UK court ruling that he was a “wife-beater.”

    The libel case was brought by Depp over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described being the victim of domestic violence, without naming him. The case is expected to be heard in court next year.

    A rep for Depp did not comment.

    Johnny Depp “Gratified” After Amber Heard Fails To Get $50M Defamation Suit Tossed, Again; ‘Aquaman’ Star Sought Dismissal Based On UK Libel Verdict

    (8/17/21) Johnny Depp may complain that Hollywood is boycotting him, but a Virginia judge just handed the Minamata star a big win in his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard.

    Already pursuing $100 million counterclaim, the Aquaman star attempted a Hail Mary move in April to have Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate dismiss the two-year old case based on her ex-husband losing a libel trial in the UK late last year against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid’s designation of the Oscar nominee as a “wife-beater.”

    Subsequently, Depp lost on trying to get that British verdict overturned on appeal. Now, in what was the third unsuccessful time trying to send the Old Dominion matter packing, it is Heard who came up very very short today.

    “The Court is not persuaded by Defendant’s argument that Plaintiff had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the UK Action,” Judge Azcarate wrote in a dense opinion released today (read it here). “Defendant was not a part in the UK action and was not treated as one,” she continues, though it should be mentioned that both Heard and Depp took the stand over in London on their respective POVs on the various allegations of his abusive behavior.

    “Because she was not named a defendant, she was not subject to the same discovery rules applicable to named parties,” the Judge determined. “In fact, Defendant could not have been a named defendant to the IK litigation because her allegedly defamatory statements were made after the UK action commenced,” Judge Azcarte said, citing the December 2018 Washington Post op-ed by Heard that set Depp off on this legal pursuit not long afterwards.

    Then, noting comparisons between free speech in the UK and free speech in the USA are “untenable” in this instance, Judge Azcarate twists the point a little more.

    “Defendant argues she was in privity with The Sun because they both had the same interest in the case,” she said “However, for privity to exist, Defendant’s interest in the case must be so identical with The Sun‘s interest such that The Sun’s representation of its interest is also a representation of Defendant’s legal right,” Judge Azcarate also proclaimed in her sometimes biting opinion, at one point calling Heard’s assertions “puzzling.”

    “The Sun‘s interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false,” the 10-page opinion letter adds. “Defendant’s interests relate to whether the statements she published were false.”

    “Mr. Depp is most gratified by the Court’s decision,” the actor’s lawyer Ben Chew of the DC office of Brown Rudnick told Deadline tonight with both brevity and understatement.

    Hit and miss in his legal adventures over the past several years, this is the second victory that axed Fantastic Beasts star Depp has had against Heard in almost as many weeks. Earlier this month, a New York judge ruled that Depp could conduct a determination if his Rum Diary co-star really did donate a portion of their $7 million divorce settlement to the ACLU, as she has widely proclaimed.

    Having been delayed on numerous occasions because of the pandemic and more, currently the Virginia matter is set to go to trial in April 2022.

    Alleging that Heard’s WaPo piece cost the Jack Sparrow actor a role in Disney’s Pirates reboot, the initial suit also staked out that it actually was Depp who was the real victim in the couple’s short-lived marriage.

    While the op-ed never actually mentioned Depp by name, the downward spiral of the couple’s relationship ended in full public view in 2016, with the actor paying his now ex-wife big bucks that she may have given to charity. “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” Depp’s spring 2019 suit said. Since the filing, Depp and his crew have consistently declared that Heard has been lying about any abuse at the actor’s hand, as a steady stream of media leaks and footage have sought to establish.

    Before filing her countersuit, Heard had not only tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to get the case tossed out but at one point had wanted it moved to another jurisdiction — which didn’t work out so well. Depp, on the other hand, sought to undermine the UK case and Heard’s credibility by claiming that his ex did not donate all of the $7 million she received in their break up to L.A.’s Children Hospital Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, a claim that is true to some extent, according to WME-repped Heard’s top lawyer

    “Amber has already been responsible for seven figures in donations to charitable causes and intends to continue to contribute and eventually fulfill her pledge,” the Reston, VA located Elaine Bredehoft told Deadline on January 7 this year. “However, Amber has been delayed in that goal because Mr. Depp filed a lawsuit against her, and consequently, she has been forced to spend millions of dollars defending Mr. Depp’s false accusations against her,” the attorney added, dodging the timeline speed bump and focusing on media stories that slag her client.

    The bitter matter has seen not just the ACLU dragged in, but Disney, the LAPD and Elon Musk too with wide-ranging subpoenas from both sides. The Judge’s opinion today means that it is likely more big names will be added to this before it is over.

    Johnny Depp Claims He Is Being Boycotted By Hollywood, Worries About ‘Minamata’ Release

    (8/15/21) A Sunday Times interview with Johnny Depp featured a claim by the 58-year-old actor that he is being “boycotted by Hollywood.”

    In the interview, published on Saturday in the UK, Depp spoke out about where he stands with the industry and his film, Minamata, which is just being released in the UK. Depp stars in the drama as the photojournalist Eugene Smith. The film is directed by Andrew Levitas.

    Smith was known for his “photographic essays” in Life magazine, but had become something of a recluse. Yet he was convinced to visit the town of Minamata in Japan to photograph and document the effects of mercury poisoning wrought by industrial pollution and corporate greed. He faced reprisals for his activities from the polluters, but still brought forth a compelling photographic essay.

    Depp’s film has yet to be released in the US. Director Lewis has claimed MGM is “burying” the movie because of Depp’s legal matters. MGM has claimed the film is still on its future release schedule, but has not set a date for it.

    Depp said the film deserves to be seen, no matter his personal issues.

    “We looked these people in the eyeballs and promised we would not be exploitative,” he said of Minamata. “That the film would be respectful. I believe that we’ve kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs.”

    “Some films touch people,” he adde. “And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything… For Hollywood’s boycott of me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?”

    The interview claimed that Depp trailed off, then added, “But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that… To bring things to light.”

    Depp lost a libel suit last November against the publisher of The Sun. The suit concerned a headline allegation that he was a “wife beater” in relation to his ex, Amber Heard. He also lost his appeal in March of this year.

    Earlier in August, he won in court as he sought to discover whether Heard made good on her pledge to donate her $7 million divorce settlement to charity.

    Earlier this month, however, he scored a rare legal victory as he seeks to discover whether Heard carried out her pledge to donate the proceeds of her $7m (£5m) divorce settlement to charity.

    Johnny Depp To Receive San Sebastian Film Festival’s Highest Honor, The Donostia Award

    (8/9/21) Johnny Depp is to receive the San Sebastian Film Festival’s (Sept 17-25) Donostia Award, its highest accolade.

    The festival today described Depp as “one of contemporary cinema’s most talented and versatile actors”. The ceremony feting the U.S. star will take place on September 22 at the festival’s Kursaal Auditorium.

    Depp was at the European festival last year to present Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane McGowan. He also made a fleeting appearance at the Spanish fest in 1998 with Terry Gilliam.

    Recent recipients of the Donostia Award include Ethan Hawke, Sigourney Weaver, Judy Dench, Penelope Cruz and Viggo Mortensen.

    The award for Depp is likely to raise some eyebrows given the high-profile and ongoing legal entanglements for the Pirates Of The Caribbean star. But San Sebastian has not been afraid to zig when others have zagged in recent years. Last year the event opened with Woody Allen’s latest film, Rifkin’s Festival.

    Cinema icon Depp, best known for movies including the Pirates franchise, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands, recently starred as war photographer W. Eugene Smith in Minamata.

    However, the muted release of that film had its director Andrew Levitas at odds with studio MGM. The filmmaker claimed that Depp’s personal baggage prompted the studio to bury the movie. Depp was recently at the center or a protracted and very messy court case involving Brit tabloid The Sun and his former wife Amber Heard. Following his loss in that case, Depp was asked by Warner Bros to resign his role as Grindelwald in the Harry Potter spinoff the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Depp remains engaged in a $50M defamation lawsuit against Heard in the U.S.

    Charity to reveal if Amber Heard donated $7M Johnny Depp divorce settlement

    (8/1/21) Johnny Depp snagged a victory in his court battle against ex-wife Amber Heard that will force a charity to reveal whether the actress lived up to her promises to donate her $7 million divorce settlement.

    The “Pirates of Caribbean” star, 58, was granted a partial petition by a judge in New York that ordered the American Civil Liberties Union to release documents to confirm whether Heard, 35, donated the payout from their 2017 divorce, USA Today reported.

    “Mr. Depp is most gratified by the Court’s decision,” Depp’s attorney Benjamin Chew the outlet in a statement.

    His lawyers have alleged that Heard was lying about donating the entirety of her divorce settlement to the ACLU and to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles — and may have cost him his libel case against a British newspaper in November 2020.

    Depp’s attorney Andrew Caldecott argued that Heard’s pledge to the charities was a “calculated and manipulative lie” that “tipped the scales against Mr. Depp from the very beginning.”

    Depp lost the case when a judge ruled that a headline that he was “wife-beater” during his marriage to Heard was “substantially true.”

    Lawyers for News Group Newspapers have insisted that Heard did not lie about the donations because she was pledging to pay it out over 10 years.

    She had made “a number of payments already in pursuance of these pledges,” attorney, Adam Wolanski, said, USA Today reported.

    Alice Cooper vigorously defends Johnny Depp against abuse claims

    (5/12/21) Alice Cooper, welcome to Johnny Depp’s nightmare.

    The shock rock legend is publicly defending the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star against claims of abuse leveled against him by ex-wife Amber Heard — claims that were found “substantially true” by a British judge in 2020.

    Cooper, who performs in the rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires with Depp and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, says he just can’t imagine that his good pal would ever commit the terrible acts that Heard accused him of.

    “Johnny is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met in my life,” he told Page Six. “He is the most harmless human being I’ve ever met, so I’m not buying into all of the other stories at because I know him and everybody else who knows him knows that.”

    The “Welcome to My Nightmare” singer, who despite his macabre stage persona is a devout Christian, says that he hasn’t spoken to Depp recently but has “gotten some emails.”

    “The thing that surprises people the most about Johnny is — other than that he will sit and talk to you for an hour even if he doesn’t know you — is that he’s a great guitar player,” Cooper continued. “He’s doing work right now with Jeff Beck. You don’t play with Jeff Beck unless you’re a hell of a guitar player. Johnny is a surprisingly good guitar player. He was a guitar player before he was an actor.”

    The abuse allegations against Depp became the subject of a London court battle last year, as the actor tried to sue The Sun newspaper for branding him a “wife beater” for allegedly attacking Heard during their brief marriage.

    The judge, however, ruled last November that the allegations made against Depp in the article were “substantially true” and he lost the case. Depp’s appeal to overturn the verdict was nixed last March.

    The “Aquaman” star, 35, and Depp, 57, started dating in 2012 and tied the knot in 2015.

    But only a year later Heard filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order against him alleging that he had been physically and verbally abusive throughout their relationship. She also claimed that the “Edward Scissorhands” star was often under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

    Depp’s career has been impacted by the highly publicized trial and the unsavory headlines. He was ousted from the “Fantastic Beast” film franchise after the court ruling.

    Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Suit Should Be Tossed Because Of UK “Wife Beater” Ruling, Amber Heard Says

    (4/22/21) Johnny Depp’s recent failure to secure an appeal in the “wife beater” verdict against him in Britain is causing legal ripples on this side of the Atlantic. Flying the flag of international law, Amber Heard’s lawyers say the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s Stateside $50 million defamation lawsuit against the Aquaman actress should be sent packing.

    “Giving full effect to the UK Judgments necessitates a finding that statements in the op-ed published in the Washington Post are true – Mr. Depp committed domestic violence against Ms. Heard on many occasions, causing her to fear for her life,” declares a supplemental plea in bar from Heard and Charlson Bredehoft Cohen & Brown, PC and Woods Rogers PC attorneys.

    “Therefore, as a matter of law, Depp cannot prevail on any of his claims, and Depp’s Complaint against Ms. Heard should be dismissed in its entirety,” adds the April 13 filing that recently appeared on the Fairfax County docket.

    As the more than two-year-old matter crawls toward its new-ish April 11, 2022, trial start date, Heard has requested a May 28 hearing on her plea filing in front of Judge Penney Azcarate, who was assigned to the case by last month by Chief Judge Bruce White.

    Having proved unsuccessful in the past at getting Depp’s suit shuttered, Heard is making a bit of a long shot with this new strategy. However, with little to lose, the effort could at least gain her some traction in the U.S. courts

    The axed Fantastic Beasts actor came up short on March 25 in his hope to be permitted an appeal in his high-profile libel case in the UK with The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers. Following a trial in London last summer, Justice Andrew Nicol decreed on November 2 that the claim in an article by the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid about Depp’s relationship with ex-wife Heard that the one-time Oscar nominee was a “wife beater” was “substantially true.”

    With all the testimony and evidence presented at that Covid safety-protocol-enhanced trial and Justice Nicol’s decree, Heard’s team — which is countersuing Depp for $100 million, BTW — believes once again that the March 2019-filed Virginia suit should be DOA.

    “Depp cannot relitigate these factual issues, and as a result of their preclusion, he cannot claim that the statements are false and ‘actionable’ under Virginia defamation law, so his claims are barred as a matter of law,” the plea filing states.

    Depp’s primary lawyer Benjamin Chew of the DC offices of Brown Rudnick LLP did not respond to request for comment on Heard’s filing and has not made a response filing for his client.

    In and out of the courts on various matters the past several years, Depp sued Heard two years ago for defamation and $50 million over an op-ed the actress wrote about domestic violence for the Washington Post in December 2018. Depp alleges the piece cost him a role in Disney’s Pirates reboot, though the column never mentions him by name.

    The initial suit also staked out that it actually was Depp who was the real victim in the couple’s short-lived marriage that ended in full public view and a $7 million settlement in 2016. “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” Depp’s spring 2019 suit said. Since the filing, Depp and his crew have consistently declared that Heard has been lying about any abuse at the actor’s hand, as a steady stream of media leaks and footage have sought to establish.

    Before filing her countersuit, Heard had not only tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to get the case tossed out but at one point had wanted it moved to another jurisdiction — which didn’t work out so well. Depp, on the other hand, sought to undermine the UK case and Heard’s credibility by claiming that his ex did not donate all of the $7 million she received in their break up to L.A.’s Children Hospital Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, a claim that is true to some extent, according to WME-repped Heard’s top lawyer

    “Amber has already been responsible for seven figures in donations to charitable causes and intends to continue to contribute and eventually fulfill her pledge,” the Reston, VA located Elaine Bredehoft told Deadline on January 7 this year. “However, Amber has been delayed in that goal because Mr. Depp filed a lawsuit against her, and consequently, she has been forced to spend millions of dollars defending Mr. Depp’s false accusations against her,” the attorney added, dodging the timeline speed bump and focusing on media stories that slag her client.

    The bitter matter has seen the after mentioned ACLU, Disney, the LAPD and Elon Musk among those drawn into the sticky case with wide-ranging subpoenas from both sides. As of yet, Depp’s close confident and lawyer Adam Waldman has not been served, despite repeated attempts by the defendant. Waldman, however, did step away from active representation in the case late fall.

    Johnny Depp Denied Appeal In “Wife Beater” Libel Case

    (3/25/21) Johnny Depp will not have his day in court (again). The actor has been denied an appeal in his high-profile libel case in the UK with The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers.

    Depp was looking to overturn a decision in which Judge Andrew Niccol ruled that the tabloid was fair in calling him a “wife beater”, with the verdict asserting that the accusation was “substantially true” in regard to his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard. That ruling has now been upheld by the UK Court of Appeal.

    This is a significant blow for Depp. After the initial trial, he was dropped from Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise and replaced by Mads Mikkelsen, and he is now tarred with the ‘wife beater’ brush ahead of his blockbuster defamation trial against Heard in the U.S. next year.

    Responding to today’s verdict, Depp’s lawyer, Joelle Rich of Schillings Partners, sent a statement to Deadline saying she “seriously questioned” the UK court’s decision and that the actor was looking forward to “presenting the complete, irrefutable evidence of the truth in the U.S. libel case against Ms. Heard where she will have to provide full disclosure”.

    A spokesperson for Heard said they were “pleased but by no means surprised” by the decision and called Depp’s team’s claim of ‘new and important evidence’ “no more than a press strategy”.

    “The evidence presented in the UK case was overwhelming and undeniable. To reiterate, the original verdict was that Mr. Depp committed domestic violence against Amber on no fewer than 12 occasions and she was left in fear of her life,” they added.

    Appeals Judges Lord Justice Dingemans and Lord Justice Underhill this morning released a 14-page document explaining their decision.

    “The hearing before Nicol J was full and fair, and he gave thorough reasons for his conclusions which have not been shown even arguably to be vitiated by any error of approach or mistake of law,” they said.

    The court explained that it did not believe Depp’s team’s criticisms of Judge Niccol had a real chance of success on appeal, and that it did not accept that the judge had been swayed by the idea of Heard’s $7M charitable donations from her divorce settlement with Depp, which the actor’s reps claimed had never been fulfilled.

    Andrew Caldecott QC led the bid for appeal on behalf of Depp. Last week, he told the UK Court of Appeal that an allegation made against Heard in January – the she had falsely claimed her $7M divorce payout had been given to charity – was grounds for the appeal to be heard.

    During the original trial in the UK High Court, Heard stated that she donated the full amount to causes including L.A.’s Children Hospital Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, and this was cited by News Group’s lawyers as evidence that the actress could not be characterized as a “gold digger”. Earlier this year, her U.S. lawyer admitted to Deadline that the donations had been “delayed”, but claimed that this was because of Depp’s legal action against the actress, which had cost her millions of dollars in legal fees.

    Caldecott had argued that the donation had “tipped the scales from the very beginning” of the case and that Heard had made a “calculated and manipulative lie”. He claimed that the original court may have been unable to ascertain Heard’s credibility because it had been swayed by the idea of the $7M donation.

    News Groups’ rep Adam Wolanski had countered by saying that Heard had not lied, that the donations will be made, and that the information had been available to Depp’s team long before the original trial. He also said the “gold digger” argument was a “misogynistic trope”.

    In today’s appeal ruling, the judges said they made no finding on whether her statements about her donations were misleading, noting that Depp’s team had not raised the issue at trial, and that they did not see reason to believe that the original judge’s decision was influenced by what had been said about the donations.

    Over in the U.S., Depp’s separate $50M defamation trial against Herd was recently delayed until April 11, 2022. The actress is also pursuing a $100M countersuit.

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES Cancel Summer 2021 European Tour

    (3/22/21) HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES have canceled their previously announced summer 2021 European tour due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

    The band, which consists of AEROSMITH's Joe Perry, actor Johnny Depp and legendary rocker Alice Cooper, was originally set to play the shows in September 2020 but pushed them back to August 2021. They have now confirmed that these rescheduled dates won't happen.

    In a statement, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES said: "We are beyond disappointed to announce that the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES must cancel our rescheduled UK/European tour this Summer. We kept trying to make it happen, but unfortunately due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 travel restrictions, it is just not possible.

    "Full refunds will be monored through your original point of purchase. Thank you for understanding, and we WILL be back rocking with you once the world returns to normal!"

    The three legends first came together to record in 2015, bonding over a shared love of their favorite songs and a desire to celebrate their "dead, drunk friends" by playing the songs of the fallen heroes. Riotous performances ensued around the world.

    In 2019, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES completed a triumphant seven-city North American tour which included a sell-out show at the famous Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and were voted the "best performance" of 2018 at London's Wembley Arena.

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES' sophomore album "Rise", produced by Tommy Henriksen and the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, was hailed as one of the purest, most unapologetic and enjoyable rock and roll albums of 2019, made by masters of the craft and true fans of the form. Unlike their 2015 debut record, the latest album consisted mainly of original material, written by the band. There are however, in the spirit of the VAMPIRES' original mission, three covers of songs originally written and recorded by legendary rockers who died far too young.

    Johnny Depp seeks appeal in U.K. wife beater libel case

    (3/17/21) Hollywood star Johnny Depp will seek permission on Thursday to appeal against his defeat in a London libel case last year over a tabloid article which labelled him a wife beater.

    High Court Judge Andrew Nicol ruled last November that Depp had violently assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard during their tempestuous five-year relationship, at times putting her in fear for her life.

    That decision came after three weeks of hearings where the court heard sensational claim and counter-claim from Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, about violent outbursts which each accused the other of committing.

    Depp, star of films including “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Edward Scissorhands,” had gone to the London court to sue The Sun newspaper and one of its journalists over an article that stated he had been violent towards Heard.

    “I have found that the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms Heard by Mr Depp have been proved to the civil standard,” said Nicol in his November ruling.

    In the aftermath, Depp’s lawyers said the ruling was so flawed it would be ridiculous for him not to appeal.

    They said it was “troubling” the judge had relied on Heard’s testimony while rejecting the evidence of police officers, her former assistant and other witnesses which they said had undermined her evidence.

    On Thursday, Depp’s legal team will apply for permission to appeal, and to rely on further evidence. The hearing, expected to last for about two hours, will be livestreamed on the Court of Appeal’s YouTube channel.

    Following Nicol’s verdict, seen as being highly damaging to his career, Depp was asked to leave the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, the movie spin-offs from the “Harry Potter” books and films.

    During the libel trial last summer, Heard said Depp would turn into a jealous alter ego, “the monster,” after binging on drugs and alcohol and had often threatened to kill her.

    Heard detailed 14 occasions of extreme violence when she said the actor choked, punched, slapped, head-butted, throttled and kicked her, with Nicol accepting 12 of these accounts were true, including an assault after her 30th birthday party and another incident which left her with black eyes.

    The couple met while making “The Rum Diary” in 2011 and married four years later, but divorced in 2016.

    Depp had told the court he was never violent towards his ex-wife, saying her claims were a hoax and portraying her as a gold-digger. But Nicol rejected his version of events.

    Depp has also filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard in a Virginia court over an opinion piece she wrote in The Washington Post.

    ‘City Of Lies’ Trailer: Johnny Depp Investigates Notorious B.I.G. & Tupac Murders In Long-Shelved Movie Now Releasing March 19

    (3/11/21) (Video) It’s been a rocky road but City Of Lies, the Brad Furman-directed crime pic in which Johnny Depp stars as a retired LAPD detective investigating the murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G, is heading to U.S. theaters on March 19 via Saban Films. The movie will then hit PVOD on April 9.

    Above you can watch the trailer for the film, the first footage since the debut trailer in May 2018, which was released by then-distributor Global Road. After being pulled from the release calendar in August that year, the movie, then titled LAbyrinth, was shelved with a lawsuit involving the pic’s location manager, who was suing Depp for assault, cited as the key reason.

    The film was then drawn into the Open Road bankruptcy in September 2018, throwing its release into further disruption. It did however receive a small release in Italy in January 2019 after debuting at a festival in the country.

    Forest Whitaker, Rockmond Dunbar and Neil Brown Jr. also star in the movie, which charts Depp’s detective character revisiting the unsolved murders of the two music icons two decades on.

    The film’s release comes hot off the heels of the release of Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, a Netflix doc that charted the rise and untimely demise of the hip hop artist.

    Delayed Again! Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard Pushed To Next Year

    (2/24/21) Johnny Depp and Amber Heard won’t be facing off in a Virginia courtroom anytime soon, it seems. In yet another delay in the trial start of the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s acetous $50 million defamation lawsuit against the Aquaman actress, the former couple now will trade barbs and evidence starting April 11, 2022. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

    Already rescheduled several times, the trial had been set to start May 7, which was looking like the final mad rush of discovery and depositions.

    The new date was decided Tuesday by Fairfax County Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White. The last time the fuming matter was postponed was back in September of last year. While Depp had been advocating for a new delay then because of his Fantastic Beasts 3 shooting schedule, White actually pushed the date from January 2021 to May due to backlogs in the state’s court system because of the coronavirus pandemic.

    And, to the frustration of some involved, that’s kind of the reason this time too, as the April 2022 date was the first available slot for a civil jury trial, I hear.

    As with last September, criminal cases are still the priority in Virginia. In that context, and with proceedings slowly starting up again as Covid-19 continues to rage across the nation, a murder trial with a defendant who is already behind bars was given the Depp-Heard May 7 date.

    With Depp’s UK lawyers anticipating an oral hearing next month in their attempt to appeal their loss in the actor’s libel suit against The Sun tabloid, the significant date shift in Virginia barely lowers the volume in the loud matter. For once thing, Heard countersued her ex-husband for $100 million last summer after failing to get the initial suit dismissed.

    In fact, in the UK, Heard’s team recently filed an opposition to the appeal there, and Depp’s barristers have until February 28 to reply.

    Having been axed from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in November, mere days after Judge Andrew Nicol’s damning “wife-beater” ruling against Depp, the actor has been on a subpoena binge in the U.S. of late. The ACLU and Elon Musk were pulled into the Virginia case earlier this month, by Depp. That follows Heard dragging Pirates studio Disney and the LAPD into the matter in January for basically everything that they might or might not have on her ex.

    Among those high-profile names in this very high-profile case, free speech nonprofit the ACLU is in the spotlight again in the case because the group was among the two organizations to which Heard said five years ago she was donating half of her $7 million divorce settlement. Despite years of insisting on the donation and an ACLU Ambassador for women’s rights role for Heard, it turns out that big-bucks payments have been “delayed,” according to what the actress’ attorney Elaine Bredehoft told Deadline in January.

    This all started when Depp sued Heard in Virginia state court for $50 million in March 2019 after she wrote a Washington Post op-ed about being a victim of domestic abuse. The December 2018 piece never actually named the actor, but the already fairly litigious Depp alleged that the op-ed damaged his already tainted rep and cost him a well-paying gig in Disney’s planned Pirates of the Caribbean reboot.

    The filed paperwork went on to say that in fact it was Depp who was the real victim in the couple’s short-lived marriage that ended in full public view in 2016. “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” the suit read in part.

    Obviously, Heard disagreed.

    As depositions are taken and more motions are to be decided in the case, this latest delay may ended up cranking up the volume on the near ear-splitting matter all the more – and could be pushed back again.

    Johnny Depp Exercises Some Free Speech With ACLU & Elon Musk Subpoenaed In $50M Amber Heard Case

    (2/12/21) Little over three months before the trial in Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard is set to finally start, the pink slipped Fantastic Beasts actor wants Elon Musk and the American Civil Liberties Union to be pulled into the case.

    As Depp awaits a hearing in the UK next month on his hopes for an appeal in his losing libel suit late last year against tabloid The Sun for calling him a “wife beater,” his U.S. attorneys have issued subpoenas for the Space X billionaire plus the First Amendment non-profit group and its Foundation arm. Now facing a $100 million counterclaims case from his Rum Diary co-star, Team Depp want Musk and the ACLU entities to both sit for depositions in the matter, as well as hand over relevant documentation of their interactions with Heard.

    In the Musk subpoena, Depp’s Brown Rudnick LLP lawyers have 24 requests that essentially cover “all communications between you and Ms. Heard regarding Mr. Depp.” Included among the two dozen requests are specific requests about The Sun case, the ACLU and “any allegations of physical abuse or domestic violence committed by either Mr. Depp or Ms. Heard.”

    In the first ACLU subpoena, “topics” sought basically have the same scope, with emphasis on donations, the defamation suit and conversations about “the relationship between Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard.”

    You may be wondering what do Elon Musk and the ACLU have to do with the case that Depp launched against his ex-wife in March 2019 over a late 2018 Washington Post op-ed she penned?

    Well, Musk dated the Aquaman actress for a while after her marriage with Depp collapsed. However, hough the latter has repeatedly alleged that the former and Heard were romantically involved while before she and Depp split. The PayPal co-founder has denied the claims. Musk even joked last summer about settling things with Depp in a “cage fight” when his named kept coming up at the ongoing the UK libel trial. The ACLU was among the two organization that Heard said in 2016 she was donating half of her $7 million divorce settlement from Depp too.

    Subsequently named an ACLU Ambassador for women’s rights, Heard was publicly thanked by at the time by the organization’s “incredibly grateful” executive director for having “so very generously shown her support.” After Heard’s WaPo op-ed on domestic violence was published in late 2018, the ACLU reposted the piece that started this whole legal battle on their website.

    However, with the ACLU having seemingly turned a blind eye to previous subpoena attempts, Heard’s main lawyer Elaine Bredehoft diplomatically admitted last month that her client has been “delayed” in making her full promised charitable contributions, as promised.

    This is seen as vital in the UK case, where Heard’s character and donations were a pivotal part in Judge Andrew Nichol’s reasoning to damningly find against Depp. Not long after that verdict from Judge Nichol was revealed in London, Depp was axed from the Fantastic Beasts franchise by Warner Bros. and knocked well off his A-list perch.

    Neither Musk not the ACLU responded to requests from Deadline on the respective February 4 and February subpoenas. Right now, after several delays from Covid-19 lockdowns and other matters, the trial is set to start on May 17 in Fairfax County, Virginia.

    The latest subpoenas come as Depp’s side wants court permission to have “non-party witnesses” give “live testimony at trial” via video link because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions.

    Heard’s lawyers aren’t 100% opposed to the idea, but is concerned the “rules” have already made enough accommodations for such witnesses. A hearing on the motion is on the court calendar for February 26. Also, a February 19 hearing is set on Heard’s motion to have a conciliator appointed by the court to “assist with discovery disputes,” of which there have been many in this matter. Part of the role of that conciliator where he or she appointed, would be to “compel contact information for witnesses identified in discovery.”

    In that vein is the issue of the hanging deposition for attorney and Depp advisor Adam Waldman, who at times seems to have been as much at the heart of this case as the former high profile couple. A February 3 letter made public in the court docket yesterday says that finding the usually outspoken Waldman isn’t proving easy.

    “I have made multiple in-person attempts to serve Adam Waldman at two Washington D.C. addresses with this Subpoena, but was unsuccessful,” said process server Mark Simons in his correspondence to the clerk for the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. Essentially giving up, Simons says he mailed the subpoenas to the D.C. addresses and left it with the clerk’s office, “because I cannot confirm a known address from Mr. Waldman.”

    Frequent tweeter Waldman has be silent on social media since January 21.

    Adam Waldman did not get back to Deadline when we reached out to him about the SNAFU surrounding his subpoena.

    Slouching towards the late spring trial start date, Depp’s desire to drag Musk and the ACLU into the nearly two year old case is in many ways replicating a wide net move instigated by Heard last month. In January, the actress sent out subpoenas to the LAPD and to Pirates of the Caribbean studio Disney for everything that they may or may not have on her ex-husband.

    An ask that includes “body-cam” footage of LAPD 911 visits to the one-time couple’s DTLA apartment in May 2016. The LAPD subpoena also seeks internal communication at the Department on her and Depp, as well as “all documents and communications of any nature with Mr. Depp, and/or any of Mr. Depp’s agents, attorneys or others acting on his behalf, from May 21, 2016 through the present.”

    Among the wide ranging Disney subpoena requests is that the House of Mouse hand over any info on “incidents of drug or alcohol use (including suspected drug or alcohol use), details about “any delays or tardiness caused by Mr. Depp,” and “any incidents of violence or abuse by Mr. Depp.”

    Déjà vu, again.

    Johnny Depp Will Receive Hearing In March Over Bid To Appeal UK Court’s “Wife Beater” Ruling

    (2/2/12) Johnny Depp and his legal team will receive an oral hearing in their bid to appeal a decision handed down by UK High Court that The Sun newspaper did not libel the actor by branding him a “wife beater” in a 2018 article.

    Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Underhill decreed yesterday that an estimated two-hour hearing will take place between March 15 and 31 at which “further evidence” can be adduced. “The issues raised by both applications are best resolved at a hearing,” he wrote.

    Amber Heard’s legal team will need to file reasons for opposing the appeal by February 21 while Depp’s team will be able to respond by February 28.

    The actor is looking to overturn the previous decision that he was not libeled by the News Group-owned tabloid when it branded him a “wife beater”, with the initial ruling stating the phrase was “substantially true” in relation to his relationship with ex-wife Heard. The verdict was damming for Depp, stating he “did assault Ms Heard” in reference to multiple allegations of domestic violence.

    Since the verdict, Depp’s lawyers have claimed the actor “did not receive a fair trial” and that the ruling was “plainly wrong.”

    Depp’s legal battle with Heard in the U.S. also continues to roll on.

    Disney & LAPD Hauled Into Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Suit Against Amber Heard; Actor Wants Discovery Motion By ‘Aquaman’ Star Rejected

    (1/12/21) Johnny Depp may believe that he has handed Amber Heard all the documentation he needs to in the former couple’s multi-million-dollar defamation battles, but the Aquaman star is now going fishing in some very deep seas.

    In subpoenas submitted today, Heard wants to know what the Los Angeles Police department and Walt Disney Motion Picture Group have on the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean actor. Information that she and her Virginia attorney want produced in the coming weeks.

    In fact, in the case of Disney, Heard and her Charlson Bredehoft Cohen & Brown, P.C. lawyers want not just paperwork on what really was going on with Depp during the “filming, including shooting and re-shooting, on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” but they are seeking a February 18 virtual deposition from the House of Mouse on the matter.

    The documentation that Team Heard desires from Disney in the $50 million defamation suit and the actress’ $100 million counterclaims casts its net pretty wide.

    Already in another discovery squirmish in the long war between the Run Diary co-stars, Heard wants “all information relating to documents and communications of any nature” on Depp and “incidents of drug or alcohol use (including suspected drug or alcohol use).” As well, they are seeking details about “any delays or tardiness caused by Mr. Depp,” “any incidents of violence or abuse by Mr. Depp” any info on impute the actor had or “hiring, casting” and “disagreements with the writers, directors or producers with the filming, editing and/or release of Pirates 5.”

    As well, to twist the knife a little more and deepen the possible public spectacle, Heard’s lawyers want “all information relating to all documents and communications of any nature between Disney and Mr. Depp from January 1, 2018 through the present.”

    A Disney spokesperson told Deadline today that the company has not seen the subpoena.

    The lowest grossing of any of the Captain Jack Sparrow franchise films, Dead Men Tell No Tales came out in May 2017 after what was seemingly a series of disruptive production issues. At one point the whole Australia shoot came to a grinding halt and cost Disney millions as Depp had to be flown Stateside after slicing off the tip of one of his fingers off is a what was reportedly a substance fueled altercation with Heard.

    In fact, the Pirates franchise played a big role in this legal mayhem from the very beginning.

    Depp sued Heard in Virginia state court for $50 million in March 2019 after she wrote a Washington Post op-ed about being a victim of domestic abuse.

    The December 2018 piece never actually named Depp, but the already fairly litigious actor alleged that it damaged his rep and cost him a gig in Disney’s planned Pirates of the Caribbean reboot. The filed paperwork went on to say that in fact it was Depp who was the real victim in the couple’s short-lived marriage that ended in 2016: “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator.”

    After several unsuccessful attempts to get the matter tossed out, Heard countersued last summer. Recently, Depp has come up short himself in trying to get the countersuit dismissed. In November last year, he also lost his high-profile libel case in Britain against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun for calling him a “wife beater.”

    Additionally, in a subpoena of its own filed Tuesday, the LAPD has been asked to deliver “body cam footage” from two officers and “all documents and communications of any nature generated, sent or received relating to the 911 calls relating to the Eastern Columbia Building on May 21, 2016 relating to Ms. Heard.” Referring to the pivotal and contested incident that led to calls for a restraining order and Depp and Heard’s divorce soon afterwards, the wide-ranging subpoena goes on to say “this includes all internal and external reports, communications, and other documents.

    In maybe the most telling of both subpoenas’ aims, the request of the LAPD also wants “all documents and communications of any nature with Mr. Depp, and/or any of Mr. Depp’s agents, attorneys or others acting on his behalf, from May 21, 2016 through the present. Heard’s lawyers have set a February 8 deadline for the City of Angels cops to produce the material.

    Following the ping pong tactics that both sides have deployed repeatedly in the Virginia case(s), today’s subpoenas against the LAPD and Disney fly out of another motion on documents from Depp to Heard, which is set for a January 15th hearing

    Seeking a new libel trial over on the other side of the Atlantic and having failed to get the Old Dominion’s anti-SLAPP utilized in his favor, the fired Fantastic Beasts actor wants to roadblock Heard from digging for more details as the matter heads towards a trial start later this year.

    “Defendant’s motion is an inexcusable abuse of the discovery process, and is littered with false representations to the court,” asserts Depp’s January 8 filed opposition. “Ms. Heard certified that she had met and conferred in good faith.,” the 10-page filing says. “That is false.”

    “Ms. Heard claims that Mr. Depp ‘refused’ to provide full production or supplemental responses, is also false,” the paperwork from Brown Rusnick LLP’s Ben Chew and Camille Vasquez goes on to say. “Ms. Heard asserts that Mr. Depp has refused to comply with this Court’s Orders and failed to produce documents, false as well.”

    “In short, Ms. Heard continues to burden this Court with frivolous, unnecessary motions that violate the Rules if the Virginia Supreme Court. Mr. Depp respectfully requests that the Court deny Ms. Heard’s latest motion and sanction her. Enough is enough.”

    Otherwise, shining a new harsh spotlight on Heard’s long held insistence, in and out of court, that she donated the $7 million settlement she received in 2017 in their divorce to the ACLU and L.A.’s Children Hospital, Depp scored a PR win at the very least recently. Heard’s Virginia lawyer Elaine Bredehoft admitted on January 7 that her client “has already been responsible for seven figures in donations to charitable causes and intends to continue to contribute and eventually fulfill her pledge.”

    Whether that has any affect in either the USA or the UK, today’s subpoenas certainly will cause ripples at the very least at Police HQ in DTLA and over in Disney’s Burbank corporate hub. On another level, Team Depp may be funding legal religion over Heard’s document demands, but they made sure to give themselves a side door if you know what I mean?

    “Of course, no litigant can ever completely rule out the possibility that additional responsive documents might be discovered at a later date, and Mr. Depp appropriately reserves his right to produce after-discovered documents,” says the opposition to Heard’s motion in the footnotes.

    Your serve.

    Johnny Depp Crib Hit by Alleged Burglar ... Cops Arrest Suspect

    (1/8/21) Johnny Depp's crib was hit by a would-be burglar ... but fortunately for him and his neighbors, cops nabbed a suspect before she could get away.

    Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a woman -- possibly homeless -- broke into Depp's Hollywood Hills home over the weekend. We're told the break-in triggered the home's security system and cops were called.

    Our sources say the woman may have been spooked by the alarm system because she took off before cops arrived. But, get this ... cops say they found her nearby and also connected her to another recent burglary.

    It's unclear if the woman took anything from Depp's home. The investigation's ongoing.

    It wasn't all bad news ... Depp wasn't home at the time, and it sounds like he and his neighbors can breathe easier knowing cops arrested a suspect on suspicion of burglary.

    Johnny Depp Fails To Get Amber Heard’s $100M Countersuit Tossed, Doubles Down In Legal Battles On Both Sides Of Atlantic

    (1/5/21) Attempting to turn the tide on his legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic, Johnny Depp has come up short again and it may end up costing the former Pirates of the Caribbean star up to $100 million.

    As Depp awaits word on whether his bid for new libel trial in the UK will be granted, a Virginia judge has refused the Oscar nominee’s desire to see Amber Heard’s big-bucks counterclaims thrown out of court. Hoping to take advantage of a new-ish anti-SLAPP law in the state, Depp sought to see a slew of statements made by himself and at least one of his lawyers over the truthfulness or “hoax” of Heard’s long-held claims of abuse during the couple’s short-lived marriage erased from the case.

    No way, Fairfax County Judge Bruce White says.

    Depp and attorney Adam Waldman’s remarks in the media the past few years “imply that Ms. Heard lied and perjured herself when she appeared before a court in 2016 to obtain a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp,” White writes in his January 4 opinion (read it here). “Moreover they imply that she lied about being a victim of domestic abuse”, he adds with a nod to the late 2018 Washington Post op-ed Heard penned on domestic violence that kicked off Depp’s $50 million defamation suit a few months later.

    “In light of the #MeToo Movement and today’s social climate, falsely claiming abuse would surely ‘injure [Ms. Heard’s] reputation in the common estimation of mankind,’ ” White continued, citing another case for definition. “Therefore, this Court finds that the statements contain the requisite ‘sting’ for an actionable defamation claim.”

    “Although Mr. Depp’s statements (and those of his attorney) can be understood as their opinion of what occurred, these statements nevertheless imply that Mr. Depp did not abuse Ms. Heard,” the judge adds. “These statements must survive demurrer because whether Mr. Depp abused Ms. Heard is a fact that is capable of bring proven true or false.”

    After numerous delays (some related to the Covid-19 pandemic) that initial case is currently set to go to trial on May 3. Failing to get Depp’s case dismissed, Heard doubled down and launched her $100 million counterclaim last summer. That case now also looks to be headed to trial later this year.

    Having said that, it wasn’t all green lights and parking spaces for the Aquaman star this week.

    Like Depp, Heard failed to have her statements protected by Virginia’s February 2020-enacted anti-SLAPP. Correspondingly, Heard lost her bid under the Virginia Computer Crimes Act to claim that her ex-husband tried to taint her name.

    “The pleading fails to demonstrate that the social media accounts communicated obscene language, suggested obscene acts, or threatened illegal or immoral acts,” White said of the online bot army that Heard claims Depp unleashed on her in an effort to get her cut loose from the Aquaman franchise. “Rather, it appears that Mr. Depp texted those statements, privately, to two of his friends, and Ms. Heard has not alleged that Mr. Depp intended for her to see them.”

    Still, nearly two months after being axed by Warner Bros (with full pay) from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in the fallout of losing his UK libel case against the Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun, Depp hasn’t gained significant traction in either of his current cases.

    Granted, the Hollywood Vampires guitarist did get White’s approval last month for his The Rum Diary co-star to hand over her decade-old arrest record and documentation related to how she allocated a $7 million divorce settlement intended for charity in 2016. However, in other large portions of that “wide array of irrelevant, overbroad, and privileged discovery,”(to quote Heard’s opposition filed of December 11), Depp was rebuffed by the Virginia courts as he had been on a previous occasion in a similar move.

    Perhaps more importantly for Depp’s tarnished and frayed reputation and career, the UK’s Court of Appeal has not yet responded to the actor’s fervent Christmas Eve entreaty for a new trial on that side of the pond.

    The litigious Depp sued The Sun over a column by its executive editor that there was “overwhelming evidence” the actor was a “wife beater.” After a 16-day trial in July in the High Court that saw Depp and Heard trade accusations over their conduct during their stormy relationship, Justice Andrew Nicol decreed on November 2 that The Sun’s claim was “substantially true.”

    Failing to be granted an appeal, Depp shifted gears towards salvation in the form of a new trial.

    “This was a very public judgment, reached by a single judge, making devastating findings of extremely serious criminal offences having been committed, and where this has had wider-ranging implications for the public at large, particularly victims, or those wrongly accused, of alleged domestic abuse.” wrote Depp’s UK attorney (barrister) David Sherborne to the Appeals Court late last month.

    Nicol “concluded that the appellant was guilty of serious physical assaults without taking account of or even acknowledging that Ms. Heard had been untruthful in her evidence, without testing her account against the documentary evidence and the evidence of other witnesses, and without making any findings that he disbelieved those witnesses,” the former legal rep for Donald and Melania Trump and Tony and Cherie Blair, among many others, added

    “The judge failed to properly assess her credibility by reference to documentary evidence, photographs, recordings or otherwise,” Sherborne also said in his December 24 correspondence.

    Whether that is enough to see the British courts wipe the plate clean and go for another trial remains to be seen. What is clear is that there will be a lot more mud thrown in the UK and in the U.S. between Depp and Heard for a long time to come – and that may be the biggest stage for the former for a while.

    Johnny Depp posts his New Year’s wish to all

    (1/1/21) Johnny Depp closed out 2020 wishing his followers “nothing but happiness and health to all” and hoping that they “find a moment tonight to smile” and “make others laugh.”

    The beleaguered actor, 57, also shared a photo of the preface of the 1939 novel “The Time of Your Life” by William Saroyan.

    “Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret,” it read in part.

    It’s been a tumultuous year for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, who lost a high-profile libel case against British publication the Sun over an article referring to him as a “wife beater” during his short-lived marriage to Amber Heard.

    A British judge found that the domestic violence allegations were proven to be “substantially true.”

    Earlier, Depp had posted a black and white photo of him with the Pogues lead singer Shane MacGowan, writing, “Here’s to a better time ahead.”

    Johnny Depp wishes for 'better time ahead' in 2021

    (12/28/20) Johnny Depp shared an optimistic holiday message on social media following a tough 2020.

    The actor posted a black-and-white snap of himself laughing at a bar with The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan – famed for festive classic Fairytale of New York – from the set of Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan, which Depp produced.

    Reflecting on the past 12 months, which saw him lose his legal battle against publishers of British newspaper The Sun over a story in which he was described as a “wife beater” in reference to allegations of abuse from ex-wife Amber Heard, Depp looked forward to a “better time ahead.”

    “This year has been so hard for so many. Here’s to a better time ahead,” he penned. “Happy Holidays, everyone! My love and respect to you all. Eternally, JD.”

    The star’s struggles saw him dropped from the forthcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel, with actor Mads Mikkelsen taking over his role as supervillain Gellert Grindelwald.

    Despite the controversy, he was met with messages of support from rocker Patti Smith, who wrote, “We are yours eternally,” and Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom, who added, “Love you, buddy. Any year, anytime.”

    Depp previously vowed to fight the ruling, stating in a November Instagram post: “The surreal judgement of the court in the UK will not change my fight to tell the truth and I confirm that I plan to appeal.”

    “My resolve remains strong and I intend to prove that the allegations against me are false,” he wrote. “My life and career will not be defined by this moment in time.”

    Last week, Depp’s legal counsel filed new documents in appeals court asking for a new trial.

    Johnny Depp’s lawyers say he didn’t get a fair trial, want a new one

    (12/24/20) Johnny Depp’s lawyers argued to an appeals court Thursday that he didn’t get a fair trial after losing his sensational libel case against a British newspaper for calling him a “wife-beater,” according to a new report.

    Attorney David Sherborne asked the panel to “set aside the judgment and order a new trial” after London High Court Judge Andrew Nicol ruled last month that The Sun’s headline was “substantially true” and the Hollywood superstar regularly roughed up Amber Heard, 34, and dismissed his claim, The Guardian reported.

    The explosive trial that took place over the summer and featured Depp, 57, and Heard as witnesses — included allegations of everything from rampant drug use to a poop incident in the pair’s marital bed.

    In court papers, Sherborne blasted the “Aquaman” actress’s testimony as unreliable and inconsistent, and criticized the judge for failing to scrutinize her account.

    “[Nicol] concluded that the appellant was guilty of serious physical assaults without taking account of or even acknowledging that Ms. Heard had been untruthful in her evidence, without testing her account against the documentary evidence and the evidence of other witnesses, and without making any findings that he disbelieved those witnesses,” wrote Sherborne, according to The Guardian.

    The lawyer called it a “very public judgment, reached by a single judge, making devastating findings of extremely serious criminal offenses” with “wider-ranging implications for the public at large,” the report said.

    Depp sued The Sun and its executive editor over an April 2018 story that branded him a “wife-beater” based on Heard’s allegations.

    Nicol found that 12 of the 14 incidents of domestic violence that The Sun relied on were “substantially true.”

    At the time, Depp’s legal team called the decision “as perverse as it is bewildering.”

    During the trial, the “Pirates of Caribbean” star testified that he was too much of a Southern gentleman to hit a woman — and it was actually Heard who was responsible for the violence in their marriage.

    The final straw came after Heard or her pal defecated in his bed as a prank after the couple had a fight, he said. Photos of the offending feces were entered into evidence.

    He portrayed Heard as a callous gold digger who’d fabricated the abuse allegations to ruin him.

    The Sun’s star witness was Heard herself, who insisted she had loved her ex-husband but that he was a “hopeless addict” who would get so wasted that he couldn’t control his bladder or his temper.

    He became such a “monster” during his drug and booze-fueled binges that he had nearly killed her during their five-year relationship, she said.

    During a “three-day ordeal of assaults” in 2015, Depp lost his fingertip and used his severed digit to scrawl “I love you” in blood on a mirror, she told the court.

    The warring Hollywood couple’s battle is far from over. Depp sued Heard for $50 million in Virginia over a Washington Post op-ed she penned about her experience as a victim of domestic violence.

    She filed a $100 million countersuit, and the case is expected to go to trial next year.

    Johnny Depp Heads To UK Court Of Appeal In Bid To Overturn Momentous “Wife Beater” Libel Ruling

    (12/9/20) Johnny Depp may have lost the battle, but he still thinks he can win the war.

    Depp is heading to the UK Court Of Appeal in a bid to overturn a High Court verdict last month that The Sun did not libel the Pirates of the Caribbean actor by describing him as a “wife beater.”

    Per an application with the Court Of Appeal, spotted by Press Association, Depp will continue a legal wrangle that cost him his job on Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise as he bids to quash allegations made by his ex-wife Amber Heard.

    Hight Court judge Andrew Nicol said The Sun’s use of the phrase “wife beater” in a 2018 article was “substantially true.” His verdict also declared that Depp “did assault Ms Heard.” The justice denied Depp an appeal in his court, but gave the actor until December 7 to apply to the Court Of Appeal to fight his judgment.

    Depp has previously signaled his appeal plans. “The surreal judgment of the court in the UK will not change my fight to tell the truth and I confirm that I plan to appeal,” he said in a statement after exiting Fantastic Beasts.

    The grounds for his appeal are not yet clear.

    Johnny Depp Denied Appeal In “Wife Beater” Libel Case

    (11/25/20) Johnny Depp has been denied an initial appeal over a UK court’s verdict earlier this month that The Sun did not libel the actor by describing him as a “wife beater.”

    The explosive case culminated November 2 with a judge decreeing that the tabloid’s use of the phrase in a 2018 article about his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard was “substantially true.” Justice Andrew Nicol’s verdict also declared that “Mr Depp did assault Ms Heard” in reference to multiple allegations of domestic violence.

    The actor had planned to appeal but The Times is reporting this has been denied, with the judge saying it did not have “a reasonable prospect of success,” and he must pay an initial £628,000 legal costs to The Sun owner News Group Newspapers. His legal team may now look to take their case to the Court of Appeals if they wish to continue action.

    After the initial verdict, the actor was axed from Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise. Mads Mikkelsen is understood to be in talks to replace him.

    Johnny Depp will earn over $10M for one scene in ‘Fantastic Beasts’

    (11/10/20) Johnny Depp will still get paid more than $10 million for the third “Fantastic Beasts” movie — despite filming only one scene before being dumped in disgrace over his “wife-beater” court ruling, according to a report.

    The 57-year-old actor was forced out on Nov. 3, a day after a UK judge ruled that a UK tabloid headline declaring Depp beat his ex Amber Heard was “substantially true” — a case that was sparked by his initial casting in the five-part franchise.

    He had only appeared in one scene on the latest installment, which started filming in London on Sept. 20 — but Warner Bros. will still have to pay his full salary, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

    Depp had a so-called pay-or-play contract, requiring full pay even if his character, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, was recast — and in a contract that had no morality clause, the trade mag said.

    The salary was at least eight figures, the report said — meaning more than $10 million.

    The franchise was central to his downfall, with his sensational court loss coming after he tried suing The Sun newspaper over a headline that asked, “How Can J.K. Rowling Be ‘Genuinely Happy’ Casting Wife Beater Johnny Depp in the New Fantastic Beasts Film?”

    Depp was due to get equal screentime with Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne, but was getting more money because of his box-office track record thanks to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, The Hollywood Reporter said.

    The actor said he was “asked to resign” by Warner Bros. — with the mag saying it was not clear what recourse the studio would have had if he had refused to do so.

    Depp insisted that his “life and career will not be defined by this moment in time” — although the major studios are increasingly wary of anyone tarnished by #MeToo or domestic-violence scandals, the report noted.

    Johnny Depp Axed By Warner Bros From ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Franchise After “Wife Beater” Verdict In UK

    (11/6/20) Following a stinging loss in the UK courts over allegations of being a “wife beater,” Johnny Depp has been cut loose by Warner Bros from their Fantastic Beasts franchise

    “Johnny Depp will depart the Fantastic Beasts franchise,” said the studio in a statement today “We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date. Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently in production, and the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast. The film will debut in theaters worldwide in the summer of 2022.”

    Having been in the UK in recent weeks filming the David Yates-directed oicture, Depp himself first made the news public online earlier on Friday. (Read here)

    After a spectacle of trial in London over the summer, Justice Andrew Nicol decreed on November 2 that the claim in an article over his relationship with Amber Heard by the Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun that Depp was a “wife beater” was “substantially true.”

    The blow to Depp, who unsurprisingly said today he would appeal put not only the litigious actor’s relationship with the AT&T-owned WB in the spotlight, but also his ongoing $50 million defamation suit against his ex-wife Heard on this side of the Atlantic.

    Delayed numerous times, the legal battle is currently set to go to trial in Virginia on May 3, 2021. Depp is set to finally give a deposition in the matter in the home of Thomas Jefferson for three days starting November 10.

    In and out of the courts on various matters the past few years, Depp sued the Aquaman star in early 2019 over a op-end Heard wrote about domestic violence for the Washington Post in December 2018 . A piece that, while Depp believes cost him a role in Disney’s Pirates reboot, never actually mentions him by name.

    Having failed repeatedly to get the case tossed, Head countersued for $100 million earlier this summer.

    Johnny Depp Loses “Wife Beater” Libel Case Against UK Tabloid The Sun

    (11/2/20) A UK court has ruled against the actor Johnny Depp in his explosive libel case with The Sun, saying that the tabloid was justified in its use of the phrase “wife beater” in a 2018 article about his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard.

    The judge, Justice Andrew Nicol, decreed that the allegation was “substantially true” in today’s verdict.

    The 129-page court document concludes plainly that “Mr Depp did assault Ms Heard” in reference to the multiple allegations of domestic violence that were presented during the trial, declaring that the “great majority” had been proved. The verdict also notes that it does not accept the characterization of Heard as a “gold-digger”.

    “The Claimant has not succeeded in his action for libel. Although he has proved the necessary elements of his cause of action in libel, the Defendants have shown that what they published in the meaning which I have held the words to bear was substantially true,” the judge’s summation reads.

    The 16-day trial in July saw Depp and Heard trade accusations over their conduct during their short-lived marriage. Here’s a recap.

    Heard’s allegations, which included 14 instances of abuse, formed the basis for The Sun parent company News Group Newspapers’ defense of its usage of the phrase “wife beater”. Depp in turn described Heard’s accusations as “sick” and a “hoax” and claimed the actress was the aggressor in their relationship.

    Heard and Depp are now set for a second legal showdown in the States. Depp is suing Heard for $50M in Virginia over a Washington Post column she wrote about domestic violence. The actor has been ordered to sit for deposition November 11 by Fairfax County VA Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White.

    Responding to today’s verdict, Heard’s U.S. lawyer Elaine Charlson Bredehoft told AP the outcome of the UK trial was “not a surprise”, adding that “very soon, we will be presenting even more voluminous evidence in the U.S.”

    The pair met when starring in 2011 pic The Rum Diary. They were married in February 2015 and split in 2016.

    Johnny Depp Drama ‘Minamata’ Acquired By MGM; February 5 Release Set Through American International Pictures Label For Japan-Set Mercury Poisoning Scandal

    (10/30/20) MGM has acquired the Johnny Depp-starrer Minamata, through its American International Pictures label. The Andrew Levitas-directed drama has been set for a February 5 release, dropping into the extended awards season as a theatrical and day and date PVOD release. The film made its world premiere during the Berlin International Film Festival last February. In addition to U.S. rights, MGM acquired Canada, Germany and Switzerland.

    While the recent focus on Depp has come for all the wrong reasons in a libel case he pressed against the Rupert Murdoch British tabloid The Sun for calling him a “wife beater” (a court ruling is expected Monday), this is a chance for the focus to swing back to his chameleonic screen work.

    In a drama inspired by a true story, Depp plays Eugene Smith, a famed photojournalist who has disconnected from the world but takes a final assignment from his Life Magazine editor (Bill Nighy). He travels to the Japanese coastal city of Minamata, where locals have been ravaged by mercury poisoning from chemicals dumped into the waters by a factory. He’s accompanied by a Japanese translator (Minami) and encouraged by a local villager (Hiroyuki Sanada) as he helps expose decades of gross negligence by the Chisso Corporation. Minamata also stars Jun Kunimura, Ryo Kase, Tadanobu Asano and Akiko Iwase.

    Levitas directed the film from a screenplay by Levitas, David K. Kessler, Stephen Deuters, and Jason Forman.

    MGM earlier this month announced it would relaunch AIP, the former B-movie factor hatched in the ‘50s by Samuel Arkoff. Minamata is produced by Levitas for Metalwork Pictures and Depp for Infinitum Nihil, along with Sam Sarkar, Bill Johnson, Gabrielle Tana, Kevan Van Thompson, David K Kessler, and Zach Avery. Executive Producers are Jason Forman, Stephen Deuters, Peter Touche, Stephen Spence, Peter Watson, Marie-Gabrielle Stewart, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Norman Merry, Peter Hampden, Nobu Hasegawa and Joe Hasegawa.

    Levitas said he was “humbled and pleased that wonderful distributors like MGM, NGOs, and institutions, around the world have joined us in our effort to bring light and voice to the people of Minamata and all of those who are forgotten, oppressed, and left voiceless. This uplifting story of hope, passion, and community reminds us that alone we may be the parts per million, but together we are the millions.”

    Chris Ottinger, President of World Wide Television Distribution & Acquisitions at MGM said that “It’s an incredibly dynamic moment in the acquisition space right now, which has allowed us the freedom to explore new opportunities within the premium content world. We are thrilled to be releasing Andrew’s film via this newly relaunched label.”

    HanWay’s Gabrielle Stewart, CAA Media Finance and MGM’s Sam Wollman, EVP of Worldwide Acquisitions & Film Sales.

    A clip for the film when it debuted in Berlin: Video.

    Johnny Depp Faces Judgment Day Next Week In Libel Battle With Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun

    (10/27/20) Johnny Depp will find out next Monday if he has succeeded or failed in his historic libel battle with Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid newspaper The Sun.

    Dubbed the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, a UK High Court judge is expected to hand down a ruling on November 2 at 10AM, according to court reporters, in what could be a reputation-defining moment for Depp.

    It follows his decision to sue The Sun and parent company News Group Newspapers after the publication claimed in an April 2018 article that he was a “wife beater” during his relationship with Amber Heard.

    The Pirates Of The Caribbean star and his ex-wife endured a bruising 16-day trial in July, during which some of the darkest moments of their short-lived marriage were picked over by the court. Here’s a recap.

    Both were present for every day of the proceedings, as Heard presented 14 allegations of abuse against Depp. Those formed the backbone of News Group Newspapers’ defense as it sought to prove its allegation.

    Depp, meanwhile, sought to pull apart the assault claim, including calling on witness statements from his former lovers Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis.

    When Justice Nicol delivers his verdict, it will come down to this: If the judge rules in Depp’s favor, it could effectively exonerate him from claims that he assaulted Heard. If the decision goes against the actor, he will ultimately be deemed a “wife beater” in an English court of law.

    But it’s unlikely to be the end of the matter. Depp is also suing Heard for $50M in Virginia over a Washington Post column she wrote about domestic violence. The actor has been ordered to sit for deposition next month by Fairfax County VA Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White.

    Depp and Heard met on the set of 2011 comedy-drama The Rum Diary and began living together in 2012 before marrying in Los Angeles in February 2015. They split in 2016.

    Johnny Depp To Receive Award At Poland’s Camerimage

    (10/27/20) Johnny Depp will head to Poland next month to pick up a special acting award at the 28th edition of the Camerimage festival.

    The event, running November 14-21 in the city of Torun, will close with a screening of Andrew Levitas’ Depp-starring drama Minamata, which features the actor as celebrated photographer W. Eugene Smith.

    The screening will take place following the event’s Closing Gala on November 21, with Depp in town to pick up the lengthy-titled Camerimage Award to an Actor with Unique Visual Sensitivity.

    The fest’s international competition line-up this year is as follows: Ammonite, The Banker, Caged Birds, Charlatan, Falling, The Glorias, Helene, Never Gonna Snow Again, Nomadland, Pinocchio, Rifkin’s Festival, and While At War. Depp is waiting to find out on Monday (November 2) what the verdict will be in his libel battle in UK court with British tabloid newspaper The Sun.

    Johnny Depp Ordered To Sit For Deposition In $50M Amber Heard Defamation Case

    (10/16/20) After months of slipping out of having to actually sit down for the $50 million defamation lawsuit that he launched against Amber Heard, Johnny Depp may have run out of time.

    “Plaintiff John C. Depp, II shall …appear for three successive days in counsel for Defendant’s offices in Virginia …or at such other place in Northern Virginia designated by counsel for Defendant, from November 10-12, 2020, beginning at 10:00 a.m. each day,” declares an order yesterday from Fairfax County VA Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White.

    No word yet from the Depp camp if the Fantastic Beasts star plans to fight this order, yet. However, if the Oscar nominee does show up, it looks like it will involve him having to skip out of some of the UK filming of the latest sequel in the WB franchise from J.K Rowling.

    It was the coronavirus delayed start of shooting on the David Yates-directed Fantastic Beasts 3 that was why Depp sought in August to have the commencement of the trial in the contentious matter pushed back to mid-2021 and why he has been supposedly unable to sit with Heard’s lawyers previously. Though the actor has been conducting a mini-grand tour of European film festivals the last month or so, WB SVP for Corporate Legal Wayne M. Smith wrote in a September 8 letter that “we require Mr. Depp to be in the United Kingdom from September 17 through the anticipated end of production in mid-February, 2021.”

    Citing the backlogs COVID-19 has caused in the courts, Judge White on September 11 shoved the previously much delayed trial from its anticipated January 2021 start to May 3 next year. Under that timeline, Depp’s deposition desired dates would have taken place mere weeks before the trial began – a state of affairs that Heard’s attorneys claim gave them little time.

    Late last month, the Charlson Bredehoft Cohen & Brown, P.C. lawyers and Aquaman star Heard filed paperwork to have Depp face their questions “on or before October 30, 2020 on dates and times agreeable to counsel for Defendant.” Having launched a $100 million counterclaim this summer, Heard was also unsuccessfully trying yet again to get the case initiated by her ex-husband tossed out.

    There was a hearing in Fairfax County on the matter on October 9.

    Following that, clearly Judge White, who also ordered Depp pay his ex-wife just under $7000 in some administrative fees and hand over long sought documents, split the difference on the deposition.

    For those of you who haven’t been following with bated breath, this all started when the litigious and much sued Depp went after Heard in early 2019 for an op-end Heard wrote about domestic violence for the Washington Post in December 2018 . A piece that, while Depp believes cost him a role in Disney’s Pirates reboot, never actually mentions him by name.

    The Rum Diary co-stars’ short and media spotlighted marriage came to an end in 2016 with a temporary restraining order slapped against Depp amid domestic violence claims. The relationship was officially over with a $7 million divorce settlement, most of which Heard ultimately donated to charity – though Depp contests if she actually did make the donations she claims

    This new delay in the Virginia case comes as Depp, Heard and all their attorneys wait for the long anticipated verdict in Public Enemies star’s UK libel battle against Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun. Touted as the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, the 16-day trial against the tabloid over stories about “wife beater” Depp allegedly abusing Heard ended in late July.

    The High Court’s Judge Justice Nicol was expected to make public his verdict by last month – yet the clock keeps ticking.

    Johnny Depp Movie ‘Minamata’ Locks International Territory Deals

    (10/8/20) Minamata, Andrew Levitas’s drama starring Johnny Depp as celebrated war photographer W. Eugene Smith, has sold around the world for HanWay Films.

    Vertigo Releasing has acquired the film’s UK and Ireland rights, while the sales co has also locked deals with Eagle Pictures (Italy), Swift Distribution (France), Odeon S.A. (Greece), Films4U (Portugal), BG Filmcilik (Turkey), Beta Film (Bulgaria), Discovery Film (former Yugoslavia), Forum Film (Poland), Exponenta Film (CIS), FrontRow Filmed Ent (Midde East), Rialto Distribution (Australia/NZ), Longride Inc (Japan), Intercontinental Films (Hong Kong), PVR (India), Shaw Organisation (Singapore), Fox Networks Group (SE Asian Pay TV), Cai Chang International (Taiwan) and M Pictures Ent (Thailand).

    The film follows Smith on a secret commission from Life Magazine to the Japanese coastal city of Minamata, which has been ravaged by mercury poisoning; the result of decades of gross industrial negligence by the country’s Chisso Corporation. It premiered at Berlin earlier this year.

    Johnny Depp Dodging Deposition In $50M Defamation Suit He Started, Amber Heard Says

    (9/30/20) Johnny Depp may have succeeded earlier this month in getting the trial for his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard pushed back to May next year, but the Fantastic Beasts star might not be so wily when it comes to ducking a deposition in the heated case.

    Having already launched a $100 million counterclaim against her ex-husband this summer, Heard is now asking a Virginia judge to force Depp to finally sit down for an elongated examination by her attorneys. Yet, as past lawsuits have taught us, Johnny Depp has never been so good with deposition dates or other deadlines, if you know what I mean?

    “Defendant is forced to bring this motion after extensive efforts to obtain the deposition of Plaintiff, even after providing a two-month Notice of Deposition, asking for locations and dates for Mr. Depp prior to his filming, seeking discovery to ascertain Mr. Depp’s exact filming schedule, and finally being told that the Plaintiff in this action, suing Defendant for $50 million, will not make himself available for deposition until the filming of Fantastic Beasts is complete, sometime late February 2021, or possibly later,” declares the blunt and attachments rich memorandum in support of Heard’s motion.

    “Mr. Depp relies upon the letter from a Warner Bros. Associate counsel claiming Mr. Depp is needed from September 17 through the completion of filming, to remain in the UK,” the September 23 filing continues. “Meanwhile, disproving the veracity of the letter, Mr. Depp is traveling around Europe and attending film festivals, each of which includes quarantine periods,” it adds.

    “Yet Mr. Depp is refusing to return to the US, where there is no quarantine requirement for his deposition.”

    Once again Heard is trying to get the nearly over a year and a half case dismissed.

    Failing that, the Aquaman star and her lawyers at Charlson Bredehoft Cohen & Brown, P.C. want the court to order Depp to show up “for three successive days in counsel for Defendant’s offices in Virginia on or before October 30, 2020 on dates and times agreeable to counsel for Defendant.”

    A hearing has been set for October 9 before Fairfax County VA Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White on the matter, with another hearing on sanctions against Depp’s main lawyer Adam Waldman scheduled for October 23.

    Reps for Depp did not respond to request for comment on Heard’s latest motions.

    On September 11, Judge White for the third time shifted the start of the high profile trial. The move this time from January to May 11 wasn’t because of Depp’s supposed Fantastic Beasts 3 filming schedule in Britain, as the star had previously requested, but because of COVID-19 delays and backlogs in the Commonwealth’s court system. In an opposition filed on September 4, Heard told the court that granting Depp’s request for continuance could actually conflict with the filming schedule on her own Warner Bros tentpole sequel Aguaman 2.

    Still the Judge made the move, for his own reasons.

    For those of you who have been following this spectacle, it all started when the litigious Depp went after Heard in early 2019 for an op-end his one-time Rum Diary co-star wrote about domestic violence for the Washington Post in December 2018 . A piece that, while Depp contends cost him a role in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean reboot, never actually mentions him by name.

    Depp and Heard’s short and much profiled marriage came to an end in 2016 with a temporary restraining order slapped against the Oscar nominated actor amid domestic violence claims. The relationship was officially over with a $7 million divorce settlement, most of which Heard ultimately donated to charity – though Depp has frequently contested if she actually did make the donations.

    This latest twist in the case over Depp’s deposition, comes as the actor Heard and their respective attorneys wait for the verdict in the Pirate star’s UK libel battle against Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun. Heralded as the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, the 16-day trial against the tabloid over stories about “wife beater” Depp allegedly abusing Heard ended in late July.

    The High Court’s Judge Justice Nicol was expected to make public his verdict in September, so he still has one day left on that one. Otherwise, October looks more likely now.

    Johnny Depp gets private tour of Nouveau Musée National de Monaco

    (9/28/20) After Johnny Depp was a presenter at Prince Albert’s Monte Carlo Gala for Planetary Health to auction off a Miró for charity Thursday — spies tell us the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco opened especially for Depp Saturday so he could take a private tour.

    Stars at the gala included Helen Mirren, Kate Beckinsale, Sienna Miller, Rebel Wilson and Andy García. Isabelle Bscher of Galerie Gmurzynska put together the gala’s auction, and also curated a weekend Miró show at the Monaco museum that opened Friday night with a VIP dinner afterward at the Monaco Yacht Club for just 40 guests, including Wilson and her new beer scion boyfriend Jacob Busch, and Celine designer Hedi Slimane.

    Depp had his own private viewing of the show the next day, we hear.

    Meanwhile, a spy told us of Wilson and Busch, “The couple are seriously in love and didn’t hide it from the world,” during the weekend.

    On Saturday, as Depp perused the paintings, “Rebel and Jacob had a ‘day of love’ … They went on a superyacht, and then had a couples’ spa day, where they worked out and got massages.”

    We hear that Thursday after the gala, stars went to “an after-party at legendary night club Jimmy’z,” and “some of them ended up at Le Tip Top for pizza and pasta at 6 a.m.”

    Depp auctioned off the 1973 Miro work, “Femme, oiseau,” which was donated by the artist’s grandson Joan Punyet Miro.

    The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star was later overheard telling a pal, “I love Miró. He didn’t give a f—k! He was completely free.”

    Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard Delayed, But Not Because Of ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’

    (9/11/20) Johnny Depp today got his wish to have another delay in the start of the trial over his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, but not for the reasons he pitched.

    In a hearing this morning in Fairfax County, Virginia, Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White pushed the trial back from January 11 next year to May 3, 2021 However, the latest postponement had nothing to do with Depp’s filming schedule for Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts 3. Nor was the new date scheduled because of Heard’s Aquaman 2 commitments.

    Nope, it was all about COVID-19.

    “Right now, the Virginia Supreme Court has not authorized us to conduct jury trials,” Judge White told the virtually assembled lawyers for both actors. Heard herself also participated via video link on Friday. Even the new date is actually penciled in, as criminal trials are going to be the first back in court and the backlog could push the battle between the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star and his ex-wife further into next year.

    In a trial that has been pushed back twice already due to the coronavirus pandemic, Depp on August 31 asked that the proceedings be moved to somewhere between March and June 2021. The reason Depp gave was the revamped production of the David Yates-directed Fantastic Beasts 3, which is now up and running in the UK. Back as Grindelwald for another movie in the latest franchise based on J.K. Rowling’s books, Depp said he was scheduled to be on set from October to next February in London.

    In an opposition filed on September 4, Heard proclaims prophetically that if Judge White granted Depp’s request for continuance, it could actually conflict with the filming schedule on her own Warner Bros tentpole sequel.

    “Defendant’s career has virtually halted, with the exception of Aquaman II – which she was told months ago would begin filming in February 2021,” the filing from Heard’s legal team at Reston VA’s Charlson Brederoft Cohen & Brown, P.C. and Roanoke, VA’s Woods Rogers PLC declared. “Warner Bros counsel said that they do not know when Aquaman II will begin filming, but it will be sometime in the spring of 2021, which is also a basis for denying the continuance.”

    In fact, in a September 8th letter (read it here) entered into the court docket on September 9, WB SVP for Corporate Legal Wayne M. Smith told Depp and Heard’s top lawyers that Aquaman 2 “will not start production any earlier than May 31, 2021.” If the Virginia trial runs any longer than its anticipated three weeks, then Heard may indeed have a serious conflict.

    Now set to be on FB3 on September 17 until the end of February next year, according to Smith’s letter, Depp was clearly happy with the outcome today. The usually reclusive actor posted a rare greeting to fans on social media: Video.

    This all started when the litigious Depp went after Heard in early 2019 for an op-end Heard wrote about domestic violence for the Washington Post in December 2018 . A piece that, while Depp believes cost him a role in Disney’s Pirates reboot, never actually mentions him by name.

    Since then Heard has unsuccessfully repeatedly attempted to have the matter dismissed or moved to the West Coast. Earlier this summer, the actress countersued her ex-husband for $100 million.

    The Rum Diary co-stars’ short and media spotlighted marriage came to an end in 2016 with a temporary restraining order slapped against Depp amid domestic violence claims. The relationship was officially over with a $7 million divorce settlement, most of which Heard ultimately donated to charity – though Depp contests if she actually did make the donations she claims

    This new delay in the Virginia case comes as Depp, Heard and their respective cast of attorneys wait for the verdict in Oscar nominee’s UK libel battle against Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun. Splashed about as the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, the 16-day legal trial against the tabloid over stories about “wife beater” Depp allegedly abusing Heard ended in late July.

    The High Court’s Judge Justice Nicol is expected to make public his verdict in the next few weeks.

    Johnny Depp’s Move To Delay $50M Defamation Trial Opposed By Amber Heard; Request Part Of “Campaign Of Terror,” Actress Says

    (9/8/20) Amber Heard really isn’t buying Johnny Depp’s line that he is too busy making Fantastic Beasts 3 to show up for the start of the $50 million defamation trial that he instigated.

    “Plaintiff should not be permitted to delay the trial and continue causing this damage simply because there is a scheduled movie shoot conflicting with trial and for which he has made no effort to schedule around his deposition and this trial,” the Aquaman star’s lawyers wrote in an opposition filing (read it here) made in Virginia court last week. “This case needs to end, and end soon,” Heard’s Old Dominion attorneys add of the big swing Depp first made against his ex-wife in spring 2019.

    “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” the complaint from Depp asserted in reaction to an op-end Heard wrote about domestic violence for the Washington Post in December 2018 – a supposedly career injuring op-ed that never actually mentioned Depp by name.

    Heard filed her own $100 million countersuit earlier this summer against Depp’s “campaign of terror,” as the most recent filing calls it.

    In a trial that has already been pushed back twice due to the coronavirus pandemic, Depp on August 31 asked that the proceedings, which were supposed to start in mid-January, to instead kick off somewhere between March and June of next year. Depp said the revamped production of the David Yates-directed Fantastic Beasts 3, which is now up and running in the UK, with Depp set to go before the cameras from October to next February.

    As things stand now, Depp is penciled in to to sit for a deposition in the case October 5, though that looks almost certain to change.

    In her opposition filed this weekend, Heard proclaims that if Fairfax (VA) County Chief Judge Bruce White grants Depp’s request for continuance it could actually conflict with the filming schedule on her own Warner Bros sequel.

    “Defendant’s career has virtually halted, with the exception of Aquaman II – which she was told months ago would begin filming in February 2021,” the short(ish) September 4 filing from Heard’s legal team at Reston VA’s Charlson Brederoft Cohen & Brown, P.C. and Roanoke, VA’s Woods Rogers PLC. “Warner Bros counsel said that they do not know when Aquaman II will begin filming, but it will be sometime in the spring of 2021, which is also a basis for denying the continuance.”

    Essentially, after declaring that Depp dropped his demand last week for a continuance at the last minute, Heard is bluntly telling the court she might need to make the same move down the line herself. Which is another way of saying let’s do this in January to avoid “establishing a slippery slope precedent.”

    Warner Bros declined comment on the matter when contacted by Deadline today. Reps for Depp did not respond to request for comment on Heard’s opposition. A hearing on the continuance request and response is set for September 11 in Fairfax County, VA.

    A media spectacle from day one, the Rum Diary co-stars’ relatively short marriage came to an end in 2016 with a temporary restraining order slapped against Depp amid domestic violence claims. Their relationship ended in a $7 million divorce settlement, most of which Heard ultimately donated to charity.

    These latest stateside moves in the fierce Virginia case come as the former couple and their teams of lawyers await the potentially pivotal verdict in Depp’s UK libel battle against Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun. Billed as the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, the 16-day legal trial against the tabloid over stories about “wife beater” Depp allegedly abusing Heard ended in late July.

    The High Court’s Judge Justice Nicol is expected to make public his verdict later this month or perhaps even later in the fall – when Depp will be back in the UK for Fantastic Beasts 3.

    Amber Heard accuses Johnny Depp of ‘smear campaign’ in $100M countersuit

    (9/1/20) Amber Heard is countersuing ex-husband Johnny Depp for $100 million — accusing him of using trolls and fake social media accounts in a “smear campaign” to ruin her life, according to court documents.

    Heard, 34, filed documents seeking to get her ex’s “frivolous lawsuit” against her tossed from a court in Virginia — while seeking twice the amount of compensatory damages he had sought from her.

    The actress said she was finally “fighting back” with the Aug. 9 filing, made as the couple still await a judge’s decision on Depp’s similar legal battle in the UK.

    Heard claimed that Depp’s US lawsuit merely continues his “abuse and harassment” — and again accused him of “rampant physical violence” while having called her “the most horrendous of names,” including “c–t,” “whore,” “disgusting pig” and “inhuman scum filled suckfish.”

    “Not content to let the jury decide this lawsuit, Mr. Depp and/or his agents acting on his behalf have orchestrated a false and defamatory smear campaign,” the counterclaim alleged.

    To do this, he controlled “dozens if not hundreds” of bots and “social media accounts created specifically for the purpose of targeting” her, the filing said — suggesting some could even be tied to Russia.

    “These accounts are designed to damage Ms. Heard and her livelihood without being directly traceable to Mr. Depp,” the court papers said.

    Depp even “initiated, coordinated, overseen and/or supported and amplified” two change.org petitions to get her booted from the “Aquaman” movie as well as being a spokeswoman for L’Oreal, the papers allege.

    “This stream of false and defamatory accusations against Ms Heard is all an attempt to ruin her life and career, simply because she was a victim of domestic abuse and violence at the hands of Mr. Depp, and had the audacity and temerity to finally come forward to end” it, her filing claims.

    “Through this Counterclaim, Ms. heard is finally, after all these years, fighting back,” her papers said.

    Depp’s lawsuit was sparked by an op-ed Heard wrote in The Washington Post, calling herself a victim of domestic abuse. She argued that it should be dismissed partly because the op-ed did not ID Depp as her abuser.

    Heard’s counterclaim accuses her ex of repeatedly suing to “remain relevant as his star otherwise wanes.”

    The Virginia case was due to start in January, but Depp recently requested it be put back until later in the year so he can film “Fantastic Beasts 3.”

    His volatile marriage with Heard was spelled out in great detail during a three-week libel trial in London’s High Court in July as he sued The Sun newspaper over a 2018 article calling him a “wife beater.”

    A decision on that case is expected any day.

    Johnny Depp Requests Delay Of $50M Defamation Trial To Accommodate ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Filming

    (8/31/20) Johnny Depp has requested that his defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard be delayed due to the upcoming filming of Fantastic Beasts 3.

    The filming for the David Yates-directed film was put on hold, like many Hollywood shoots and events, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But as conditions in main filming site London have improved, production is set to pick back up again starting in October and possibly ending February, conflicting with the Depp-Heard trial set to run from January 11 to 28 2021.

    “When the Court set the current trial date in this case, Mr. Depp understood that Warner Bros. planned to shoot ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ in London long before January 11, 2021. COVID-19 disrupted the studio’s plans, causing repeated postponements. With conditions in London having improved somewhat, Warner Bros. has now set a shooting schedule that conflicts with the trial date in this case,” the court papers say.

    The Fantastic Beasts actor requested on Aug. 21 that the trial be postponed until sometime between on March and June 2021.

    Depp filed the $50 million defamation suit against his Aquaman actress ex-wife in 2019 for an 2018 op-ed published in the Washington Post wherein she wrote about sexual and domestic violence. The case has since been handled in Virginia.

    The legal papers also state that Heard has agreed to meet on Sept. 11 to discuss the potential delay and that the proposed postponement “would not entail any prejudice to her, much less unfair prejudice” as she’s expected to film Aquaman 2 sometime next year. The sequel to the 2018 film is set to hit theaters Dec. 16, 2022.

    The news of the actor’s request to postpone the defamation case comes nearly a month after Depp’s libel battle against Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid newspaper The Sun. While the 16-day dispute has concluded, a verdict has not been reached. Judge Justice Nicol is set to deliver a result until September at the earliest.

    Johnny Depp Libel Trial Verdict Not Expected Before September

    (7/29/20) Billed as the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, Johnny Depp’s 16-day legal battle with Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid newspaper The Sun concluded on Tuesday after both sides made their closing arguments at the High Court.

    Judge Justice Nicol is now set to take the coming weeks to deliberate over a verdict, which he is not expected to deliver until September at the earliest. It is likely to be a long wait for Depp, who has staked his reputation on the often ugly libel action, in which he has sought to disprove The Sun’s claim that he is a “wife beater.”

    The Pirates Of The Caribbean star was present at the High Court for every day of the proceedings, as was his ex-wife Amber Heard, who presented 14 allegations of abuse against Depp. These formed the backbone of The Sun owner News Group Newspapers’ defense.

    On the steps of the court on Tuesday evening, Heard acknowledged it had been a bruising three weeks, saying it had been “incredibly painful to relive the break up of my relationship.” Depp vehemently denies her allegations, with his attorney David Sherborne telling the court in his closing remarks that Heard is a “compulsive liar” and that his client is “no wife beater.”

    When Justice Nicol delivers his verdict, it will come down to this: If the judge rules in Depp’s favor, it will effectively exonerate him from claims that he assaulted Heard. If the decision goes against the actor, he will ultimately be deemed a “wife-beater” in an English court of law.

    But it’s unlikely to be the end of the matter. Depp is suing Heard for $50M in Virginia over a Washington Post column she wrote about domestic violence — a case that could reopen all the wounds that have been raked over in detail over the past three weeks in London.

    Johnny Depp Wrongly Cast In A “Rogues’ Gallery Of Abusers” With Harvey Weinstein, Say His Lawyers

    (7/28/20) Johnny Depp was cast into the “rogues’ gallery of abusers” highlighted by the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements after the publication of an article which labelled him a “wife beater,” his lawyers have said.

    He was “cited in the same breath as disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein”, who had by then “become notorious” for carrying out “heinous assaults on women”, the Pirates Of The Caribbean star’s legal team argued.

    Depp is suing News Group Newspapers and its executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?” In a written document on the final day of his libel action, lawyers said the piece “put Mr Depp into the same category of Harvey Weinstein and invoke #MeToo and Time’s Up movements just so no reader is in any doubt as to the seriousness of what Mr Depp has done or how much society should condemn him.”

    It adds: “The Claimant is included in the rogues’ gallery of abusers that the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements are campaigning against, cited in the same breath as Harvey Weinstein who had become notorious by then for having committed numerous heinous assaults on women.”

    Depp’s lawyers said the comparison has been repeated at trial by “equating Mr Depp to Harvey Weinstein in their cross-examination of Ms Kendall.” Actress Katherine Kendall, an advocate for the #MeToo movement which sprang out of widespread revelations about Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, gave evidence in Mr Depp’s trial, saying she felt “misquoted and misused” over the article.

    Kendall has publicly accused Weinstein, who was jailed for 23 years in March after being convicted of rape and other sexual offenses, of harassing her in the 1990s.

    In a written statement to London’s High Court, she said when she read the article: “I realised that I had been completely misquoted and misused by The Sun to accomplish their goal. In my brief interview, I had actually said many of the opposite things that The Sun had falsely quoted me as saying.”

    In her statement, she said that in a message to a reporter she had spoken to, she wrote: “I felt like I was misquoted, or that my words were taken out of context. I never meant to be in an article that called Johnny Depp a ‘wife beater’. I told you that I didn’t know that to be true at all!”

    Three weeks ago, in his opening statement, Depp’s barrister David Sherborne said Mr Wootton and The Sun newspaper had chosen to “make deliberate and highly topical references to the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements” as well as to Weinstein.

    The lawyer said his client Depp had not launched this libel action for money, but that “it is about vindication.” Sherborne added: “That is why he has come here – to clear his reputation.”

    Johnny Depp Libel Trial Enters Final Stages; Actor Accused Of Being Unaware Of His “Disgraceful Conduct” Towards Amber Heard Because Of Drug Use

    (7/27/20) Johnny Depp’s memory of his “disgraceful conduct” towards Amber Heard is “so severely impaired by drug use” that he may not have been aware of the extent of his “violence and terrifying behavior,” the High Court has heard.

    Lawyers for The Sun newspaper said there is a “wealth of evidence” to support Heard’s allegations of domestic violence by Depp, which paints a picture of the actor as “a hopeless addict who repeatedly lost his self-control and all ability to restrain his anger.”

    Depp, 57, is suing the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater”. The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor denies the allegations of violence made against him by Heard, 34.

    On Monday, the case – the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century – entered its closing stages as NGN’s legal team began making closing submissions.

    Sasha Wass QC, for NGN, told Justice Nicol that evidence of Depp’s “drug and alcohol-fueled lifestyle provides a backdrop to the events in question.”

    She said: “Firstly, it demonstrates that the claimant was subject to irrational mood swings and abnormal behavioral patterns, which would not have been present when Mr Depp was clean and sober, and Mr Depp has a name for this metamorphosed entity, namely ‘The Monster’.

    “The other aspect which is important in terms of substance abuse is Mr Depp’s recollection of his own disgraceful conduct, which is so severely impaired by drug misuse that he may not even have been aware of the extent of his violence and terrifying behavior which, on more than one of these pleaded incidents, put Ms Heard in fear of her life.”

    Wass also told the court: “The days are long past when the courts in this country required corroboration before accepting the unsupported testimony of a female complainant.” She later said it is “trite” to suggest that a person who chooses to remain with a violent partner “cannot be a victim.”

    She said: “We submit… that the testimony of a complainant of domestic violence is sufficient to prove the case, provided that the complainant – Ms Heard in this case – gives credible and reliable evidence.”

    However, she said that in this case, unusually, there is also a “wealth of evidence” to support Heard’s account. She said there were text messages and emails to support her evidence, as well as medical evidence from those who were treating Depp for his addictions.

    Wass said: “This paints a picture of a hopeless addict who repeatedly lost his self control and all ability to restrain his anger.”

    At the outset of Monday’s hearing, Wass said that the defense to the article complained about by Depp is “one of truth, namely that Mr Depp did indeed beat his wife.”

    She said: “For the defense of truth to be substantiated, the defendants need to prove on a balance of probabilities that Mr Depp assaulted Ms Heard on at least one occasion.

    “During the last two weeks, the defendants have established that many more than one incident of wife-beating took place over the course of the relationship between the claimant (Mr Depp) and Amber Heard.”

    The three-week trial at the Royal Courts of Justice in London has heard evidence from both Depp and Heard, as well as other witnesses.

    Depp was asked about 14 allegations of domestic violence which NGN rely on in their defense against Depp’s claim – all of which the actor denies – as well as his past relationships with women including Vanessa Paradis, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss, and his well-documented use of drink and drugs.

    He accused Heard of “building a dossier very early on” in their relationship to align herself with the #MeToo movement. And he told the court no other woman had ever accused him of hitting them.

    In her evidence, Heard claimed her ex-husband threatened to kill her “many times, especially later in our relationship”, and would blame his actions on a “self-created third party” he called “The Monster” – who she said she was “terrified of.”

    In a witness statement, Heard accused Depp of verbal and physical abuse, including screaming, swearing, punching, slapping, kicking, headbutting and choking her, as well as “extremely controlling and intimidating behavior.”

    She also said Depp was “extremely jealous” and accused her of having affairs with stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, whom he nicknamed “pumpkin-head” after Heard auditioned with him.

    Depp is suing NGN and Wootton over an April 27 2018 article with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her “in fear for her life”. NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs”.

    Justice Nicol has said that his judgment will be reserved.

    After Amber Heard’s Sister Claims She Saw Johnny Depp Punch His Ex-Wife, Depp’s Lawyers Seek To Strike Back With Leaked Video

    (7/24/20) Johnny Depp’s lawyers have been provided with a video from “an anonymous source” which they say shows Amber Heard “attacked” her sister, the High Court has heard.

    On Friday morning, the Pirates Of The Caribbean star’s barrister David Sherborne said they had received a video from a “confidential source” on Thursday night, after Whitney Henriquez gave evidence earlier in the day that her sister had never attacked her.

    The claim was made at the outset of the 14th day of Mr Depp’s libel claim against The Sun over allegations he was violent to his ex-wife. On Thursday, Henriquez denied Heard had ever hit her, or that she was “frightened” of her sister.

    She also gave evidence she saw Depp punch Heard “really hard in the head … multiple times” in Los Angeles in March 2015 in the so-called “stairs incident.”

    Henriquez admitted that Heard punched Depp on that occasion, but only did so “in my defense” because her sister believed the actor was going to push her down the stairs. Sherborne told the court that Henriquez had “tailored” her evidence “to meet her sister’s evidence.”

    The barrister added that Depp’s legal team had been provided with “material which we say demonstrates Ms Whitney (Henriquez) was lying yesterday.”

    Depp, 57, is suing The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater” over claims he attacked Heard, 34, during their relationship.

    At the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Sherborne said: “After she (Ms Henriquez) gave evidence yesterday, one of our team was contacted by an individual, on the basis of being kept confidential.”

    He added: “We were contacted to explain that Ms Amber Heard had a history of violence and attacking people and this video, which was attached, of her sister Whitney (Henriquez) was taken shortly after Amber Heard had attacked her and Ms Whitney (Henriquez) was filmed with people commenting on the bruises on her face and body.”

    Sherborne told Justice Nicol: “In the context of the attack, what I will call ‘the stairs incident’, and the evidence we say of the attack by Ms Amber Heard on Mr Depp, Ms Whitney (Henriquez) you will recall protested that it was only in self-defense and it is the one physical attack that Ms Amber Heard admits to.”

    He said that, on Thursday, Henriquez was asked “whether Ms Amber Heard was violent” and said that “the stairs incident” in Los Angeles in March 2015 was a “one-off.”

    Sherborne continued that Henriquez’s evidence about the incident in March 2015 is “the only occasion on which any other human being is supposed to have witnessed” Depp being violent towards Heard. He added: “The reliability of Ms Whitney (Henriquez) is critical.”

    Sherborne said Heard’s evidence is that “she was never violent, she (has not) physically attacked Mr Depp … and the only occasion is said to be when she was acting in self-defense.” “Evidence that Ms Heard was violent towards her sister is relevant to that issue,” Sherborne said.

    He told the court: “We are entitled to put (allegations of) violence to Ms Whitney (Henriquez) … we want to play the video tape to her and ask her about the incident in which Ms Amber Heard attacked her.”

    Sherborne added: “Had we received this before the end of yesterday, we would have been entitled to put (the allegation) to her and we would be entitled to rely on it in our closing submissions.”

    Henriquez’s cross-examination concluded on Thursday afternoon and she was due to be questioned by NGN’s barrister Sasha Wass QC on Friday. Wass said she had not seen the video and was not aware of it until Sherborne told the court about it.

    Justice Nicol said he wanted to “press on” with other witnesses’ evidence “and, if there is an opportunity for Ms Wass to see the video before we get to the issue, that would be desirable.”

    Henriquez was due to finish her evidence on Friday morning before Heard’s acting coach Kristina Sexton appears by video link from Australia and Heard’s friends iO Tillett Wright and Raquel “Rocky” Pennington give evidence from the US.

    Sexton began her evidence by video link from Australia on Friday morning, and denied “enthusiastically” supporting Heard’s allegations against Depp.

    Depp is suing over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp assaulted Ms Heard on a number of occasions and left her “in fear for her life.”

    NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.”

    The case, the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, is due to finish next week with closing submissions from both sides’ legal teams on Monday and Tuesday.

    Amber Heard Sent Series Of Texts To Her Mom In 2013 Calling Johnny Depp “Violent & Crazy”

    (7/23/20) Johnny Depp is a “remarkable man” when he is “clean and sober” but the “other side of him was a monster,” Amber Heard has told the High Court.

    In her fourth day in the witness box in her ex-husband’s libel case against The Sun newspaper, the Aquaman actress said she had been “so in love” with Depp and had “always held out hope” that he would get clean.

    The court has heard that in a series of text messages to her mother Paige in March 2013, Heard, 34, described Depp, 57, as “violent and crazy” and said: “I’m heartbroken that this is who I love.”

    Depp is suing the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater”.

    On Thursday, Heard was questioned by Sasha Wass, representing NGN, who read out text messages the actress sent her mother on March 22 and 23, 2013.

    In her first witness statement, Heard claimed that in March 2013, Depp hit her with the back of his hand, which caused her blood to hit the wall, after an argument about a painting by her ex-partner Tasya van Ree which was hanging in her house in Los Angeles. He denies this.

    The actress initially said the incident took place on March 8, 2013, but told the court she now considers the correct date of the “painting incident” to be March 22 2013.

    Wass told the court that in one text to her mother, Heard wrote: “It’s terrible, mum. I don’t know what to do.” Another read: “He’s nuts, mum. Violent and crazy. I’m heartbroken that this is who I love.”

    In a third, she wrote: “I feel like I’m on a very fast train that’s about to explode, but I don’t want to jump off and leave my love behind. So I stay on the train, even though I know it’s about to explode.”

    Heard told the court: “I was so in love with Johnny at that time. We had had a wonderful year together where he was sober and clean and that is how I got to know him. And Johnny, when he was like that, (is) generous, loving, he is a remarkable man when he is like that.

    “I loved him and I didn’t want to lose that… the other side of him was a monster, but I always held out hope that he would get clean and sober.”

    As she read out the messages, Wass told the court Heard’s mother had suggested she informed her father, to which the actress replied: “I can’t tell dad.”

    Heard explained to the court: “I felt safe to tell my mother, but I didn’t know how my dad would react. I had never been in this situation before and I didn’t know if he would react violently… to Johnny. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

    Wass also cited a series of texts between Heard and Depp’s then assistant Nathan Holmes, which were sent on March 22 2013.

    Depp is said to have been due on set at the time to film part of a documentary he was making about Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.

    Holmes texted Heard at around noon to say “on my way to get him,” to which Heard replied: “Trying to wake him now.” The court heard Heard texted Holmes just before 6pm to say: “Success – he’s coming down.”

    Wass asked: “What was going on between noon… and about 6 o’clock that evening?” Heard replied: “Johnny refused to leave… (he was) snorting lines of cocaine, drinking whisky and he was saying we really need to work this out, he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

    “He wanted me to admit that I was having an affair with, not only Tasya van Ree, my ex-partner, but also a gentleman I hardly knew… he had just gotten it in his mind that I had these affairs and he wouldn’t leave until I admitted it.”

    Heard will conclude her evidence about 14 allegations of domestic violence, which NGN relies on in its defense of an April 2018 article that called Depp a “wife beater”, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday.

    Her sister Whitney Henriquez, who previously lived in one of five penthouses owned by Depp in the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles, is due to give evidence on Thursday afternoon.

    Depp is suing over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her “in fear for her life”.

    NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs”.

    The blockbuster case, the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century, is due to finish next week with closing submissions from both sides’ legal teams on Monday and Tuesday.

    The trial continues.

    Amber Heard Claims Johnny Depp Threw Bottles At Her “Like Grenades” During Alleged Row In Australia

    (7/21/20) Amber Heard has claimed Johnny Depp threw bottles “like grenades” during an alleged explosive row in Australia.

    The Aquaman actress claimed she was “too scared to look behind” her as the actor threw “all the bottles in reach” – around 30 in total.

    Heard, 34, was asked about the alleged incident in Australia in March 2015 – which she has previously described as a “three-day hostage situation” – as she entered the witness box for the third day.

    She is giving evidence in her ex-husband’s libel claim against the News Group Newspapers (NGN) publisher of The Sun newspaper, and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater.”

    Heard has accused Depp of repeatedly assaulting her during the Australia trip, fueled by drink and drugs, which he denies.

    On Wednesday, Eleanor Laws QC, representing Depp, 57, put it to Heard that during the alleged Australia incident the actress “worked yourself into a rage, screaming at him” and threw a glass bottle. Heard said she got angry “at times” but “not to the extent where I would throw anything at him offensively.”

    In response to a suggestion from Laws that she threw a bottle at Depp’s head, smashing a mirror behind him, Heard said she did break a bottle “very early” on the second evening of the trip, and it was “before Johnny had started to throw the bottles at me.”

    She claimed the couple were in an argument about Depp drinking and when she confronted him, he offered her the bottle.

    Heard told the court: “He said, ‘Oh yeah, you want it? Here, take it’, and at that point drinking had already been… he had already given it up for a while and it was on the list of ‘if this happens, I leave’ sort of thing. It was no-fly. And he gestured to offer it to me and I reached to take it and he pulled it back.”

    She said Depp was “teasing me to take it” and then pulling it away. Heard went on to say she “reached for it a second time and I smashed it on the floor in between Johnny and I.” She added: “I regret I did that.”

    Heard then told the court: “He started picking them (bottles) up one by one and throwing them like grenades. One after the other after the other, in my direction, and I felt glass breaking behind me, I retreated more into the bar and he didn’t stop.

    “I was too scared to look behind me. He threw all the bottles that were in reach, all except for one which was a celebratory magnum-sized bottle of wine.” Heard said she remembered that was the only bottle not smashed out of 30 or so.

    The court has previously heard that Depp’s finger was severed during the alleged incident, with the film star claiming Heard was responsible, which she denies.

    Laws put it to Heard that the injury was caused by her “throwing a bottle in his direction, smashing it down and severing the tip of his finger with glass,” to which Heard replied: “No.”

    She also denied stubbing a cigarette out on Mr Depp’s cheek, saying the Pirates Of The Caribbean star did it to himself. Laws said: “You did it, didn’t you?” To which Heard replied: “No, Johnny did it right in front of me, he often did things like that.”

    Laws said: “According to you, Mr Depp sliced his finger off all on his own… and then carried on attacking you.” Heard said: “Yes, he did. I don’t think he meant to sever the finger but yes he did continue the attack.”

    The actress, 34, has accused Depp, 57, of both verbal and physical abuse throughout their relationship – allegedly punching, slapping, kicking, headbutting and choking her, as well as displaying “extremely controlling and intimidating behavior.”

    However, Depp says he was not violent towards Ms Heard, claiming it was she who was violent to him. Heard’s evidence will continue, before her friends Melanie Inglessis and Joshua Drew are due to give evidence by video-link from LA later in the afternoon.

    Depp is suing NGN and The Sun’s executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27, 2018, with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her “in fear for her life.”

    NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.”

    The trial continues.

    Johnny Depp’s ex-security guard says he acts like Jack Sparrow in real life

    (7/21/20) Johnny Depp’s former security guard claims the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star doesn’t break character — acting like “pretty much Jack Sparrow” in his regular life, according to a report.

    Security guard Rick Wood said the actor, 57, was “awesome” and “laid-back” when he worked at his and then-wife Amber Heard’s home in Australia while the franchise filmed in 2015, 9News reported.

    “He stays in character so he’s pretty much Jack Sparrow — great bloke,” Woods told the outlet.

    Wood said there was never any indication that Depp physically abused his newlywed bride — despite him later being labeled a “wife-beater” in a 2018 article that’s now the center of Depp’s libel case.

    “I couldn’t see it in him and in my industry, you know who’s a wife-beater and who’s not,” Wood told the outlet.

    Despite effusive praise for Depp, the security guard said 34-year-old Heard was known to “stir the pot” and for her “look at me” antics.

    “She made up this big drama she was leaving, taxis would turn up, we would have to wave them away and then we would pick up the suitcase and there was nothing in the suitcase at all,” Wood said, adding that it was “all for show.”

    The couple, who divorced in 2017, have made explosive allegations about their volatile marriage during the three-week libel case in London court.

    While Heard isn’t on trial, she testified he was physically and verbally abusive throughout their relationship, as well as “extremely controlling and intimidating.”

    Depp has repeatedly denied all allegations of abuse, insisting that “it was she who was violent” to him.

    Amber Heard Admits Punching Johnny Depp After Recalling Rumor He Pushed Kate Moss Down The Stairs

    (7/21/20) Amber Heard has claimed she punched Johnny Depp to stop him pushing her sister down the stairs after remembering a “rumour” he had done the same to Kate Moss.

    The Aquaman actress told the High Court that this “information” was “fresh in my mind” during the alleged incident in 2015, and she reacted “in a flash” to protect her sibling.

    Heard, 34, made the claim in her second day of giving evidence in her ex-husband’s libel action against The Sun newspaper over a 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater.”

    On Tuesday, Eleanor Laws QC, representing Depp, asked about the “stairs incident” in Los Angeles in March 2015 when Heard has said she believed Depp was going to push her sister, Whitney Henriquez, down the stairs.

    The barrister said: “This was a very nasty row between you and Mr Depp and it was you who was the violent one.” Heard replied: “Johnny hit both myself and my sister”, before denying that she spat at the Pirates Of The Caribbean star, or threw a can of Red Bull at him.

    Laws then put it to Heard that she also “punched him (Mr Depp) in the face with a closed fist”.

    Heard replied: “I did strike Johnny that day in defence of my sister. He was about to push her down the stairs and, the moment before that happened, I remembered information I had heard (that) he pushed a former girlfriend – I believe it was Kate Moss – down the stairs. I had heard this rumour from two people and it was fresh in my mind.”

    She added: “In a flash I reacted in defence of her.” Heard went on to allege that Depp had punched her “for years” and “for years I had never even hit him.” She said: “I never so much as landed a blow and I will never forget this incident… it was the first time after all these years (I hit him).”

    Laws said Heard had “changed your story” and had never mentioned the story about Moss before. She said Heard “didn’t mention a thing about Kate Moss being in your mind, you are just making this up as you go along.”

    Laws played a clip from Heard’s 2016 deposition in Los Angeles, in which the actress talks about the alleged incident, and said that at no point in her “free narrative” did Heard mention Moss.

    Heard said: “No, I didn’t have a chance.” She added: “I’ve not had the liberty of time or space or energy even to list every thought that crossed my mind.”

    Depp is suing NGN and The Sun’s executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her “in fear for her life”.

    NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.”

    The trial continues.

    Elon Musk Texted Amber Heard Offering “24/7 Security” After She Claimed Johnny Depp Threw Phone At Her

    (7/21/20) Elon Musk offered to provide Amber Heard with “24/7 security” and told the actress “I really like you,” the High Court has heard.

    The Tesla founder is said to have made the offer in May 2016, during a text message exchange in which Heard, 34, told him she was going to obtain a restraining order against Johnny Depp.

    In her second day of evidence in her ex-husband’s blockbuster libel action against The Sun newspaper, the Aquaman actress also dismissed suggestions Musk visited her in 2015 while Depp was away, saying she was not in touch with the entrepreneur until the following year.

    Depp, 57, is suing the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater”.

    On Tuesday, Eleanor Laws QC, representing Depp, read out text messages between Heard and Musk from May 22 2016, in which Heard tells Musk that she is going to obtain a restraining order against her then husband.

    This is the day after an alleged incident at the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles, where Depp and Heard lived, in which the actress claims Depp threw her mobile phone at her, hitting her in the face — which the actor denies.

    Questioning Heard, Laws said Musk offers to “arrange 24/7 security for you”, adding: “The offer would stand, even if you never wanted to see me again… anyway, sorry for being an idiot. The radio silence hurts a lot. It only matters because I really like you.”

    The barrister then referred to evidence given by Alejandro Romero, a concierge at the Eastern Columbia Building, who said he saw Musk visiting Heard “when Mr Depp was in Australia”. Heard responded: “He’s wrong. I wasn’t even in communication with Elon until 2016.”

    In his written witness statement, Romero said: “From March 2015 onwards, Ms Heard was visited regularly late at night, at around 11pm to midnight, by Mr Elon Musk.” The concierge said Heard gave Musk his own fob to access the building.

    Laws also asked Heard about actor James Franco, saying: “On the topic of what you say about his (Johnny Depp’s) jealousy, you mentioned in your statement that James Franco was someone that Mr Depp was accusing you of having an affair with and he was quite wrong about it.” Heard said: “That’s right.”

    Laws then played CCTV footage to the court of Heard traveling downstairs in the lift at the Eastern Columbia Building on May 22 2016 at around 11pm, before traveling back upstairs shortly after with Franco.

    Heard confirmed that the man in the footage was Franco. Laws asked: “Are you trying to avoid being seen by the camera there?”

    Heard replied: “We were talking. He was saying to me ‘oh my god, what happened to you?’ He saw my face… when I let him in. He saw my face and he said ‘what the f*ck?’”

    Laws asked: “That’s not secretive talking on that camera?” Heard said: “Yes, it’s discreet.”

    Asked about what time Heard collected Franco from downstairs, Heard confirmed it was after 11PM and said: “In those days, I didn’t sleep much at night.”

    Heard is continuing to be questioned over 14 allegations of domestic violence, which the tabloid’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) relies on in its defense against Depp’s claim.

    She has accused Depp of verbal and physical abuse throughout their relationship, including screaming, swearing, punching, slapping, kicking, headbutting and choking her, as well as “extremely controlling and intimidating behavior.”

    Depp, however, says he was “not violent towards Ms Heard – it was she who was violent to him,” and claims his ex-wife was “building a dossier” of false allegations as an “insurance policy for later.”

    Heard’s evidence was initially due to conclude on Wednesday but will now continue until Thursday morning, with her friends Melanie Inglessis and Joshua Drew expected to appear by videolink on Wednesday afternoon.

    Depp is suing NGN and The Sun’s executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27, 2018, with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her “in fear for her life”.

    NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs”.

    Amber Heard Describes “Three-Day Hostage Situation” With Johnny Depp During ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ Shoot

    (7/20/20) Amber Heard has described a “three-day hostage situation” with Johnny Depp where he allegedly went on a drug binge, attacked her, urinated in front of people and hid raw meat in a wardrobe.

    She said she went to visit him in Australia in March 2015 while he was filming Pirates Of The Caribbean and they were due to be alone for three days. Heard said she feared for her life and described it as “the worst thing I have ever been through.”

    In a witness statement filed as part of Depp’s High Court libel case against The Sun over allegations of domestic violence, Heard said her ex-husband was making “all kinds of nonsensical accusations” about her as well as having “strange, paranoid hallucinations”.

    She said: “The best way I can describe what happened in Australia is that it was like a three-day hostage situation. We were due to be there for three days on our own, but it was only when I arrived that I realized I was trapped in this remote place without any means to leave and that Johnny had already been using and had a bag of drugs.

    “I was in a remote house, at least 20 minutes from help; where I could not leave; was trapped and isolated with a violent person suffering from manic depression, bipolar disorder and a pattern of repeated, drug-induced psychosis and violence, who was on a multiple-day drug and alcohol binge.

    “Over the course of those three days, there were extreme acts of psychological, physical, emotional and other forms of violence. It is the worst thing I have ever been through. I was left with an injured lip and nose and cuts on my arms.”

    Heard alleged that at one point Depp grabbed her by the neck, shoved her against the fridge and said he could “crush” her neck. She said there was broken glass everywhere, and alleged that he ripped off her nightgown so that she was naked.

    “At some point he pulled me around by my neck and pushed me down against the bar, I was against the bar, naked, bent over backwards, my back against the marble. He was pressing so hard on my neck I couldn’t breathe. I was trying to tell him that I couldn’t breathe. I remember thinking he was going to kill me in that moment,” she said.

    The next day, she said she noticed that Depp’s finger had been cut off, explaining in her statement: “I didn’t actually see the finger being cut off, but I was worried that it had happened the night before. I figured it might have happened when he was smashing the phone on the wall by the fridge.” In her statement, Heard goes on to say that security arrived and asked Depp were his finger was.

    “He went out the front door, though security tried to stop him. He took out his penis and they asked him what he’s doing. He answered as if he was asleep: ‘I need to take a f***ing piss, it’s my house.’

    “He peed just outside the front door; then he went back in and did it right in front of them, to nervous laughter. He said he was trying to write my name, peeing on the walls and carpet, walking through the house.”

    Heard said that Depp was taken to hospital, and at some point that day she found the nightgown she had been wearing.

    “There were pieces of it wrapped round something and I realized it was the steak I had planned to cook. He had ripped the gown into pieces and put raw meat in it. He had also gone around and painted on all my clothes in the closet. He had taken a lot out of them and put them in the tub and smeared paint on them. And he had hidden more bits of raw meat in places, like in the bedroom closet. It was really messed up,” she said.

    The trial has previously heard that Depp said his finger was severed after Heard threw a vodka bottle at him.

    Johnny Depp once presented Kate Moss a necklace — in his butt

    (7/18/20) Over the past two weeks, Johnny Depp has had his private life ransacked in London’s High Court.

    And the daily stream of headlines are more than embarrassing for the one-time Hollywood whose razor-sharp cheekbones left 1980s teenagers quivering.

    Tales of poop in bed, a diet of whiskey and drugs, plus barely literate texts, have all been unveiled during the libel case, as the star, now 57, is suing The Sun newspaper for calling him a “wife beater” — denying he abused his second wife, actress Amber Heard.

    He’s come across as a shambolic figure, and onlookers told The Post that Depp sits at the back of the court, bizarrely sketching the courtroom and the judge.

    But he still has one thing going for him — the support of his famous exes, who include some of the most beautiful women in the world. Actress Winona Ryder and singer Vanessa Paradis both submitted statements singing his praises.

    “I was absolutely shocked, confused and upset when I heard the accusations against him,” Ryder, who was once engaged to Depp, said. “I truly and honestly only know him as a really good man — an incredibly loving, extremely caring guy who was so very protective of me and the people that he loves, and I felt so very, very safe with him.”

    Meanwhile, Paradis, the mother of Depp’s two children, said: “This is nothing like the true Johnny I have known . . . This is so upsetting as he has helped so many persons in his personal and professional life, with kindness and generosity.”

    Depp’s long-forgotten first wife, Lori Anne Allison, told The Post that she stands behind him, too.

    “I feel bad for Johnny having to go through this,” Allison said. “He has such an enormous heart and deserves happiness in life. He has never raised a hand to me or been violent towards me. I wish him the best and hope that he can get back to doing what he loves soon.”

    Allison and Depp met through her brother, who was the bassist in Depp’s band The Kids, in their hometown of Miramar, Fla.

    After a brief courtship, they tied the knot in 1983, when Depp was just 20 years old and Lori was 25. Photos from the wedding show Lori, a slight brunette, beaming as Depp, clad in a black suit, feeds her cake.

    “It was so long ago and we were married for such a short time, [but] we shared some truly amazing times,” Allison said.

    As The Kids took off, the band and Allison decided to move to LA. She had music dreams of her own: “I wanted to become a recording engineer,” she told the Miami Herald in 2015.

    But after she went target shooting without proper protection, she lost 80 percent of the hearing in her left ear.

    To make ends meet, she worked as a makeup artist, while Depp held odd jobs, including as a telemarketer for a pen company.

    Allison would turn out to be the key to his Hollywood career, when she introduced Depp to her new LA pal Nicolas Cage.

    The actors became drinking buddies and Cage got Depp the audition for his breakout movie, 1984’s “A Nightmare On Elm Street.”

    “Nic Cage said, ‘You should try being an actor. Maybe you are one and don’t know it,’” Depp later told Playboy, adding he did it to pay rent.

    But as his career began to take off, his marriage crumbled. He and Allison split in 1985, citing irreconcilable differences.

    Still a makeup artist in California, Allison told The Post that she never remarried.

    Depp, meanwhile, was launching his Hollywood love life. After the divorce, he had a three-year relationship with Sherilynn Fenn, who would soon go on to star in the cult TV series “Twin Peaks.”

    During that time, Depp became a huge star thanks to the TV show “21 Jump Street,” but he chafed at his teen-heartthrob image and left the series in 1989 — right around when he started seeing “Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey.

    His first real high-profile romance came later that year, when Depp, then 28, hooked up with quirky 17-year-old ingenue Winona Ryder. He was the guy Sassy magazine readers wanted to date, and she was the girl they wanted to be, and it seemed to be a perfect match when the two got engaged in 1990 — the same year their film “Edward Scissorhands” was released.

    Depp once said: “I’d die for her. I love her so much.” So much so, he famously had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm.

    “Winona and Johnny had a wonderful relationship,” a Ryder source told The Post.

    Alas, the couple split in 1993, allegedly because her parents discouraged her from marrying him. Depp had his ink altered to say “Wino Forever.”

    With the actor’s next romance, he met his wild-child match. Depp first encountered waifish supermodel Kate Moss, 11 years his junior, at the East Village celeb hangout Cafe Tabac in 1994. He was so smitten, she has said, that he once presented her a diamond necklace stuffed between his butt cheeks.

    For his part, Depp has claimed that he and Moss had sex in every one of Chateau Marmont’s 63 rooms, and he once filled a bathtub with champagne for her birthday.

    There were dark moments, too. Rumors swirled of screaming matches between the couple. And in 1994, police were called to the Upper East Side’s Mark Hotel, where they found Moss and a “possibly intoxicated” Depp in a trashed presidential suite after an alleged fight. Depp blamed the mess on an armadillo he said was hiding in the closet. No creature was found. He was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and billed $9,767 for hotel damages.

    Moss has said she struggled for a long time following their 1998 split: “Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!”

    After that, Depp seemed to settle down, moving to France (and, later, a private island) with singer Vanessa Paradis and raising their kids, Lily-Rose, now 21 and an actress, and Jack, 18. The two were together for 14 years, keeping a low profile as he made a fortune thanks to Disney’s “Pirates of The Caribbean” movies. He has since claimed that $650 million of that fortune was “stolen” by business managers.

    Paradis and Depp split in 2012, and he soon began seeing Amber Heard, his co-star in 2009’s “The Rum Diary.” They wed in 2014 and endured what was apparently a rocky two-year marriage. When Heard filed for divorce, she also obtained a restraining order against Depp, alleging he had been verbally and physically abusive. Heard has admitted on tape that she hit Depp, and he claims that his finger was severed after she threw a wine bottle at him.

    Because of all this, one Hollywood insider finds it shocking that Depp would pursue the libel case, knowing it would air out all of the former couple’s dirty laundry:

    “I have to admit I find it baffling that Johnny chose to go to court. It’s not only embarrassing, it could have huge repercussions for his career, and I feel bad for his children, having to listen to this.”

    But Depp isn’t backing down. He is also suing Heard in the US for $50 million for allegedly defaming him in a Washington Post article about domestic abuse.

    “The reality is, even if he wins, what’s he going to gain with all this stuff coming out?” said a top LA lawyer. “He may not be a wife beater, but this will stick with him forever.”

    Whether he’ll ever date again — or whether any woman would have him after this — remains to be seen.

    A brief history of Johnny Depp’s love life

    LORI ANNE ALLISON: Depp married his Florida hometown sweetheart in 1983. After they moved to Los Angeles, she helped kickstart his Hollywood career by introducing him to Nicolas Cage, who encouraged Depp to act.

    SHERILYN FENN: After Depp and Allison divorced in 1985, he met actress Fenn on the student film “Dummies.” The two dated for three years, after which she became a star on the show “Twin Peaks.”

    JENNIFER GREY: A few years after splitting from her “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” co-star Matthew Broderick, the actress dated Depp. They were reportedly engaged, but called things off in 1989.

    WINONA RYDER: The actress was just 17 when she began dating her “Edward Scissorhands” co-star Depp, 26, in 1989. He had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm, but altered it to say “Wino Forever” after they split in ’93.

    KATE MOSS: Depp once presented the model, whom he dated from 1994-’98, a necklace tucked between his butt cheeks. He also trashed a suite at the Mark Hotel during a fight with her.

    VANESSA PARADIS: The French singer is the mother of Depp’s kids, Lily-Rose, now 21, and Jack, 18. They were together for 14 years, and she, like Ryder, submitted positive statements in his current court case.

    Johnny Depp’s private island: 5 things to know about Little Hall’s Pond Cay

    (7/17/20) Johnny Depp’s private island, Little Hall’s Pond Cay, is 45-acres of Bahamas beauty, but life in his haven hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

    Amid the actor’s ongoing libel trial against The Sun newspaper, the island has become the backdrop of multiple alleged incidents between Depp, 57, and his ex-wife Amber Heard, 34.

    On Tuesday, the island’s estate manager, Tara Roberts, detailed an alleged 2015 assault, claiming Heard “repeatedly berated” Depp, calling him “fat” and “washed up.” Roberts testified that she never saw Depp hit Heard, nor did he “physically react to the attacks.”

    Earlier in the trial, Heard described a separate incident that allegedly occurred in August 2014, claiming that Depp slapped and kicked her while he was detoxing from drugs.

    During her testimony, Roberts stated that there was “no discord” or anything “out of the ordinary,” during the 2014 trip. Depp also denied Heard’s claim, instead saying Heard did “one of the cruelest things she has ever done” by withholding his meds.

    While Depp’s trouble in paradise is rapidly coming to light, the island hasn’t always been plagued by salacious drama. Here’s everything you need to know about the island Depp once called the most “pure and beautiful” place he’d ever been.

    Private luxury came with a price

    Depp reportedly spotted his treasured island while starring in 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” and purchased it for $3.6 million in 2004. Despite starting out with no infrastructure, the actor ended up building a “ranch-style house with a stunning 360-degree view,” of the island.

    According to Vanity Fair, Depp also dropped over $8 million on a yacht so he could get to his island. The boat, named Vajoliroja, has since been sold, but reportedly required eight crew members and cost between $300,000 and $400,000 a month to maintain.

    The beaches have a special place in his heart

    Each of the island’s beaches are named after something special to him. He named two after his children, Lily-Rose, 21, and Jack, 18. Another is named for his ex, Vanessa Paradis. Gonzo beach honors the late author Hunter S. Thompson and features glass tables with Thompson’s face etched into them. Depp also named one of the beaches Brando, after his friend and mentor Marlon Brando, whom he reportedly consulted when he first wanted to purchase an island.

    Before they drew a line in the sand on their marriage, Depp and Heard hosted their 2015 wedding celebration on one of the white sandy beaches.

    The island is eco-friendly

    Little Hall’s Pond Cay, which is located in the Exumas archipelago about 60 miles from Nassau, is reportedly outfitted with solar-powered buildings.

    The surrounding area is also home to a plethora of wildlife and serves as part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park protected area.

    Depp once retreated to the island to “return to normalcy”

    In a 2009 Vanity Fair story, Depp joked about wanting to become “Ruler of the Exumas” and getting Guinness on tap on Little Hall’s Pond Cay.

    Calling the island his “decompression,” he recalled retreating there to feel more himself after a movie role. “Escapism is survival to me,” he said.

    He has some celebrity neighbors

    They say no man is an island, and Depp is certainly not alone in owning Caribbean property. Eddie Murphy and David Copperfield also own islands off the coast of Nassau.

    Hall’s Pond Cay, another island in the Exumas chain, is currently on sale for $75 million by Vladi Private Islands.

    Elon Musk Regularly Visited Amber Heard At Johnny Depp’s Los Angeles Penthouse, Concierge Tells Court

    (7/17/20) Tesla founder Elon Musk regularly visited Amber Heard late at night at Johnny Depp’s Los Angeles penthouse, it has been claimed.

    Alejandro Romero, a concierge at the Eastern Columbia Building, said in a written witness statement as part of Depp’s libel trial with The Sun, that the actress, 34, gave Musk his own fob to access the apartment.

    The statement said: “From March 2015 onwards, Ms Heard was visited regularly late at night, at around 11pm to midnight, by Mr Elon Musk. For his initial visits, I would receive a call from Ms Heard who would tell me to give Mr Musk access to the garage for the building and then send him up to the penthouse.

    “After he had made a few visits, Ms Heard provided Mr Musk with his own garage remote and a fob to Mr Depp’s penthouse. I believe he visited Ms Heard a few times a week and he would always visit when Mr Depp was not at home.”

    In his statement, submitted in support of Depp’s libel action against News Group Newspapers (NGN), Romero also claimed he “did not notice any bruises, cuts, swelling, red marks or any other injuries of any kind to Ms Heard’s face” when he saw her on May 25, 2016.

    Heard alleges that on May 21, 2016, Depp, 57, threw a phone at her and smashed objects during a row at the penthouse, which he denies. Romero said that on May 25, Heard asked him to check the apartment “to check that no-one was there and that it was safe.”

    He said he searched two penthouses, accompanied by Heard and her friend Raquel Pennington, between about 10.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m., and claimed “during my search, I did not see another person or anything to cause concern, at any point.”

    The trial continues.

    Winona Ryder “Shocked, Confused & Upset” By Johnny Depp Allegations; Picture Emerges Of Depp With Dark Mark Under His Eye

    (7/16/20) Winona Ryder has said she was “shocked, confused and upset” by allegations that Johnny Depp was abusive towards his ex-wife Amber Heard, according to a witness statement provided in support of Depp.

    The Edward Scissorhands actor is suing The Sun for libel after the British tabloid described him as a “wife beater” and, although Ryder is no longer being called to the witness stand, more excerpts from her statement have been made available to press at the High Court.

    Ryder was engaged to Depp in the 1990s and the Stranger Things star said she considers the relationship among the most significant in her life. Per Press Association, she said in her statement: “I understand that it is very important that I speak from my own experience, as I obviously was not there during his marriage to Amber, but, from my experience, which was so wildly different, I was absolutely shocked, confused and upset when I heard the accusations against him.

    “The idea that he is an incredibly violent person is the farthest thing from the Johnny I knew and loved. I cannot wrap my head around these accusations. He was never, never violent towards me. He was never, never abusive at all towards me. He has never been violent or abusive towards anybody I have seen.

    “I truly and honestly only know him as a really good man – an incredibly loving, extremely caring guy who was so very protective of me and the people that he loves, and I felt so very, very safe with him. I do not want to call anyone a liar but from my experience of Johnny, it is impossible to believe that such horrific allegations are true. I find it extremely upsetting, knowing him as I do.”

    Further excerpts from Vanessa Paradis’ statement were also published. The French singer was in a relationship with Depp for more than 14 years and had two children with him.

    She said: “This is nothing like the true Johnny I have known, and from my personal experience of many years, I can say he was never violent or abusive to me. I have seen that these outrageous statements have been really distressing, and also caused damage to his career because unfortunately people have gone on believing these false facts. This is so upsetting as he has helped so many persons in his personal and professional life, with kindness and generosity.”

    It comes as the court was shown an image from 2016 of Depp with a dark mark under his eye. Depp’s head of security Sean Bett said the image showed an injury allegedly sustained from Heard. “Mr Depp told me that Ms Heard had slapped him on the face a few times,” he said while giving evidence.

    In his witness statement, Bett added that he saw the couple “very regularly” during their relationship and “never saw any cuts, bruises or other injuries on Ms Heard.”

    He added: “On the contrary, throughout the course of Mr Depp and Ms Heard’s relationship, Ms Heard was verbally and physically abusive towards Mr Depp. On many occasions, I witnessed her shout at Mr Depp. I was also told by Mr Depp on multiple occasions that Ms Heard had physically abused him.

    “A very common occurrence throughout the relationship would be that Mr Depp would have me, and other members of his security team, take him away from Ms Heard, due to her behaviour. He would then stay somewhere else. This happened on so many occasions that it is not possible for me to remember them all in detail. However, I would describe it as a recurring cycle that Ms Heard would abuse Mr Depp, who would then remove himself from the situation.”

    The trial continues.

    Johnny Depp Libel Trial: Winona Ryder & Vanessa Paradis Will No Longer Give Evidence

    (7/16/20) Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis will no longer be called to give evidence in Johnny Depp’s libel claim against The Sun over an article that labeled him a “wife beater”, the High Court has heard.

    Depp’s former partners were due to appear via video link this week, but the actor’s barrister David Sherborne told the court Depp’s legal team had decided there is no need to hear from them.

    The Hollywood star, 57, is suing the tabloid’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which alleged he was violent towards ex-wife Amber Heard, 34, during their tumultuous relationship.

    At the start of day eight of Depp’s claim, Sherborne said there was no need to call Ryder and Paradis given that the defendant’s case is that the actor was not violent to other partners but was to Heard.

    He told the court: “There is no need to reschedule those witnesses, much as it would have been a pleasure to have them here.”

    Paradis, who was in a relationship with Depp for more than 14 years and had two children with him, was due to give evidence in support of the actor’s case on Thursday.

    At a preliminary hearing in the case, part of Paradis’s witness statement said: “I have known Johnny for more than 25 years. We’ve been partners for 14 years and we raised our two children together. Through all these years I’ve known Johnny to be a kind, attentive, generous, and non-violent person and father.”

    She added: “He was never violent or abusive to me.”

    On Wednesday, the court did not have time to hear from actress Ryder, who was engaged to Depp in the 1990s. The court has previously heard Depp had a “Winona Forever” tattoo when the pair were an item, which he later changed to “Wino Forever.”

    At a preliminary hearing in the case, part of Ryder’s witness statement was revealed in court documents, which read: “I cannot wrap my head around (Ms Heard’s) accusations. He was never, never violent towards me. He was never, never abusive at all towards me.”

    The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing NGN and Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”. His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her “in fear for her life”.

    Heard claims that, during an incident in Australia, she was subjected to a “three-day hostage situation” during which Depp drank to excess and took pills.

    NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.”

    Amber Heard Felt She Was “Above The Law,” Former Assistant Tells UK Court

    (7/15/20) Amber Heard felt she was “above the law,” her former personal assistant has alleged.

    Kate James, who was fired by the actress in February 2015, claimed Heard “did not care about throwing anyone under the bus, if it meant saving her own skin.”

    In her first witness statement, submitted to the court in Johnny Depp’s libel action against The Sun newspaper, James said she had been asked by Heard in September 2014 to send a letter the actress had drafted to Homeland Security officials in the US about a woman named Savannah McMillan.

    She claimed Heard, 34, had hired the woman to work as a set assistant. James said in her written statement: “Savannah, a British citizen, had been held in immigration and questioned about the frequency that she had been coming and going from the USA.

    “In Amber’s letter, she called it fraudulent that it was being alleged that Savannah was working for Amber unlawfully. She (Ms Heard) said that, as Savannah’s ‘friend’, she could ‘say truthfully and unequivocally that this allegation is entirely false … I would like to go on the record saying that Savannah McMillan is a personal friend, and to my knowledge, has never worked unlawfully or otherwise in the United States. Or for me.’”

    James alleged in her statement that she “knew this to be untrue” and “Amber was therefore willfully lying to the US immigration department.” She added that she took a photo of the letter and a paycheck from Heard to McMillan.

    Her statement also referred to the episode when Heard faced criminal proceedings over her dogs entering Australia illegally.

    She claimed she had attempted to talk to Heard about a date discrepancy in the time needed for the dogs’ immigration process, but said the actress’s eyes “would glaze over and she would walk away.”

    James alleged Heard “chose to ignore” her and Depp’s then estate manager, Kevin Murphy. “She deliberately smuggled the dogs into Australia,” James said in her statement, adding: “As in several circumstances which I observed, it was as if she felt that she was above the law.”

    James said she had been told about a discussion in which the actress is alleged to have considered asking Murphy to ask her to sign a statement supporting Heard’s position that “she (Ms Heard) did not know the dogs were not ready to be taken into Australia.”

    The witness statement said: “The fact that she was willing to ask me to sign such a statement under oath… is a reflection of her approach to me… in general. She did not care about throwing anyone under the bus, if it meant saving her own skin.”

    Johnny Depp’s Former Estate Manager Recalls Finding The Actor’s Severed Finger After Amber Heard Incident

    (7/15/20) Johnny Depp’s former estate manager Ben King has recalled how he found the actor’s severed finger after an alleged altercation with Amber Heard in Australia in 2015.

    King was giving evidence in support of Depp as part of the Pirates Of The Caribbean star’s blockbuster court battle with The Sun. Depp is suing the British tabloid after it branded him a “wife beater” in an article about his relationship with former wife Heard. Depp strongly denies he ever assaulted Heard.

    King was involved in a clean-up operation after the alleged incident in Australia, during which the top of Depp’s middle finger was sliced off. Heard claims the actor injured himself while smashing a telephone into a wall, but Depp alleged that the injury was the result of Heard throwing a vodka bottle at him.

    According to Press Association, Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers, asked King if he had the task of finding Depp’s fingertip, to which he replied: “It was mentioned that it may be somewhere and when I was clearing up I found it.” He said it was located by the bar area, while there was a trail of blood spots up the stairs to a bedroom.

    King said he heard about the vodka bottle claim in the press. Furthermore, speaking with regard to the telephone smashing claim, he added: “I don’t recall a phone having been ripped off the wall, or having to replace a wall telephone.” Depp had to go to hospital to treat the wound.

    King was later asked about his evidence that, when he and Heard returned to Los Angeles from Australia after the finger incident, he noticed “some cuts on one of her arms”. Wass asked if they were “fresh”, to which King said: “They were enough for me to say ‘maybe you should put your sleeve down’.”

    The trial continues.

    Johnny Depp Libel Trial: Hollywood Stylist Says Amber Heard Had “No Visible” Injuries After Alleged Altercation

    (7/14/20) A Hollywood stylist has told the High Court that Amber Heard had “no visible” injuries the day after the actress alleges Johnny Depp was violent towards her during a heated row.

    Samantha McMillen said she spent “much of the afternoon and early evening” with Heard, 34, on December 16 2015 as the star prepared to appear on James Corden’s The Late Late Show and she could “see clearly” that Heard had no marks, cuts or bruises.

    Depp, 57, is alleged to have been violent towards Heard in an argument at their Los Angeles penthouse on December 15, which he denies. The Hollywood star is suing The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater”.

    In a witness statement, McMillen said that she saw Heard “in good light, at close range, wearing no makeup” the following day, adding: “I could see clearly that Ms Heard did not have any visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries to her face or any other part of her body.”

    McMillen claimed that after her appearance on the programme, Heard said to her “can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?” The stylist said: “Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment.”

    In her written statement, McMillen also claimed she “interacted closely” with Heard five months later, on May 24 2016, at Depp’s house in west Hollywood.

    This was shortly after another episode in which Heard alleges the Pirates Of The Caribbean star threw a mobile phone at her, hitting her in the eye, and smashed items with a wine bottle. Depp denies the allegations.

    McMillen’s statement says: “I went to the house in the afternoon, and encountered Ms Heard. Ms Heard was not wearing makeup. There were no visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries to her face or any other part of her body. I saw her by the kitchen door during daylight in Mr Depp’s house.

    “She gave me a hug, crying. After hugging me, she began to have an intense conversation in Spanish with Mr Depp’s housekeeper, Hilda Vargas.”

    McMillen also said that three days after her encounter with Heard, on May 27, she saw in the media that “Ms Heard had gone to court with prominent injuries visible on her face.” She claimed she “knew that she (Ms Heard) did not have those marks on her face on May 24 2016 when I was with her.”

    Amber Heard Diary Entry Describes “Terrible” Fight With Johnny Depp On A Train During Their Honeymoon

    (7/14/20) Amber Heard wrote in her diary about a “terrible” fight with her former husband Johnny Depp on a train journey during their 2015 honeymoon in Southeast Asia, a British court has heard.

    The Aquaman actress’s diary was read aloud during Depp’s explosive, three-week High Court libel battle with British tabloid The Sun. The Edward Scissorhands actor is suing The Sun and its executive editor Dan Wootton after they described him as a “wife-beater” — an allegation he vehemently denies.

    Per Press Association, Heard wrote: “Our fight was terrible. Johnny… at one point found himself with his shirt wrapped around my neck. Amazing to think about (the) precision, co-ordination that required considering the close circumstances… I don’t even know how I wound up with this huge, rather annoying knot on the back of my head. F*ck, I hate that.” She added: “We finally fell asleep with one another smashed together in desperate, childlike anger, fear and love.”

    The excerpt was read by Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers, during her questioning of Depp’s personal security guard Malcolm Connolly, who was also present on the train journey. The barrister asked: “So, if a fight had taken place at 3.30 in the morning, do you think you would necessarily have known about it?” Connolly replied: “I would never have known about it.”

    Connolly said on Tuesday that he never saw Depp “physically attack or hit” Heard. “I wouldn’t tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldn’t tolerate that,” he added. “Not even if he’s my boss. I don’t care if he’s the Pope.” Connolly also said he had “heard of” instances of Heard attacking Depp.

    The trial continues.

    Johnny Depp Tells Court That Bed “Defecation Incident” Was “Fitting End” To His Relationship With Amber Heard

    (7/10/20) A “defecation incident” in which feces were found in Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s bed was a “fitting end” to the couple’s relationship, the Hollywood actor has said.

    The star told the High Court he had been “convinced” it was either his ex-wife herself, or one of her friends who was involved in the episode.

    Depp has entered the witness box to give evidence for the fourth day in his libel action against The Sun newspaper over allegations he was violent to Heard, 34. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article which labeled him a “wife-beater.”

    NGN relies on 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence towards Heard, which Depp denies, in their defense against the actor’s libel claim. On Friday, Depp, 57, was questioned about Heard’s 30th birthday party at the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles in April 2016, and the “defecation incident.”

    Depp told the court he thought the April 2016 incident was “a fitting end to the relationship.”

    Earlier, Sasha Wass, lead counsel for NGN suggested Boo, one of the couple’s two Yorkshire terriers, “had problems with her toilet habits,” to which the actor said the dogs “were very well trained,” but that “Boo was not as trained as Pistol,” their other dog.

    Wass said to Depp that “it came to your attention the following, that was the day of Amber’s actual birthday, that the cleaner had found feces in the bed.”

    She suggested Depp was later sent photographs of the feces, which the actor found “hilarious” and that “there were jokes like ‘Amber Turd’, ‘Amber in the dumps’ going on.”

    Depp replied: “It was one of the most absurd, unexpected statements that I have ever witnessed in my life so, yes, initially I did laugh because it was so strange.” He told the court it was “a mystery” who defecated in the bed “and it was not left by a three or four-pound dog.”

    Depp added: “I was convinced that it was either Ms Heard herself or one of her cohort involved in leaving human feces on the bed.”

    Earlier, Wass told the court Depp had arrived late for Heard’s party after being given some “rather unfortunate news” about his financial affairs at a meeting. The Edward Scissorhands star said he went to bed and was reading “trying to avoid any confrontation with Ms Heard.”

    He was asked if he was really reading a book on his wife’s birthday when she had said she was upset he was late to her party. Depp replied: “I thought her behavior regarding the subject of my tardiness to her birthday dinner, I thought that it was too much… her anger, her rage… when I had been texting Ms Heard, telling her ‘I am so sorry, I’m going to be late’.”

    Wass went on to suggest Depp had become angry after Heard raised the issue of him being late to the party, and he got out of bed to argue with her, which the actor denied.

    The barrister said Depp was “very distressed about the news you had received and the last thing you wanted to be told was that you were a disappointment to your wife.” Depp replied: “I believe that’s the last thing any husband would want to hear.”

    Wass went on to accuse Depp of picking up a magnum bottle of champagne and throwing it at Heard, which missed, with the glass smashing, which he denied.

    She also alleged he grabbed Heard by her hair and pushed her onto the bed” adding “when she tried to leave, you blocked the bedroom door and you tried to grab her hair.” The barrister suggested Depp then “pushed her to the ground” and “bumped her chest” before leaving the apartment.

    Depp denied that he had grabbed or pushed Heard and said he had texted his security team, who were outside the penthouse, and said “gotta go, got to get out of here”.

    Wass asked if Depp left Heard a note which read “happy f****** birthday.” Depp replied: “I don’t know that I did, but it is very, very possible.”

    The court briefing went into private on Friday to consider evidence relating to Heard’s allegations of sexual violence. The exact nature of the allegations was not disclosed to the press or public and remains unknown.

    The actor’s case against NGN and Wootton arises out of the publication of an article on The Sun’s website on April 27 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    NGN is defending the article as true and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs” between early 2013 and May 2016, when the couple split.

    The pair met in 2011 and began living together in 2012 before marrying in Los Angeles in February 2015.

    Johnny Depp Accuses Amber Heard Of Telling “Porky Pies” On Third Day Of Explosive Libel Trial

    (7/9/20) Johnny Depp has accused Amber Heard of telling “porky pies” about him to a psychiatrist, during a third day of intense questioning over his drug use and relationship with his ex-wife as his libel claim against The Sun newspaper continues.

    The Hollywood star suggested there was a “benefit to her (Ms Heard’s) motivation” to tell the medical professional that he was “threatened” by her career and that a film she made with actor James Franco led to a “binge” that put him in hospital.

    The High Court has also heard details of medical notes written by Depp’s private doctor which said the actor “romanticises the entire drug culture and has no accountability for his behaviour”.

    The actor was cross-examined about a detox trip the couple took to the Bahamas in August 2014, during which Heard says he attacked her, which he denies.

    The 57-year-old is suing the tabloid’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater”. Depp’s lawyers say the article made “defamatory allegations of the utmost seriousness,” accusing him of committing serious assaults on Heard, 34, and “inflicting such serious injuries that she feared for her life.”

    Sasha Wass QC, lead counsel for NGN, told the court that Depp’s private doctor, Dr David Kipper, had started treating Heard for anxiety, and referred her to another medic, Dr Connell Cowan.

    She said Dr Cowan wrote in medical notes: “JD (Johnny Depp) is very threatened by career, particularly any kind of romantic scenes she has to do. Her movie with JF (James Franco) precipitated a binge that put JD in the hospital. Everyone around J seems to be intimidated by his power and money. No one stands up to him.”

    Asked if there was a reason why Heard would have said this, unless it was true, Depp said: “I believe it had a benefit to her motivation.” He later added: “I think she was telling porky pies with her psychiatrist.” (Porky pies is British slang for lies.)

    Earlier, Wass read out medical notes by Dr Kipper which said Depp, “romanticises the entire drug culture and has no accountability for his behaviour.” The doctor also wrote that Depp paid “lip service” to people like the actor’s friend Sir Elton John “more for their celebrity than their struggle with sobriety.”

    In response, Depp said he, Dr Kipper, Heard and another nurse, who cared for him in the Bahamas had “all just met,” adding “they were not versed in our lives, our life together, as yet.”

    Wass also read out medical notes from two other occasions – including one dated September 22 which recorded that Mr Depp punched the wall during an argument with Amber Heard and was found “sitting in the kitchen with scraped and bloodied knuckles”.

    The barrister said: “It seems to be how you are expressing your anger yet again.” Depp replied: “I would rather express my anger by hitting an inanimate object than… the person I love.”

    Wass began her third day of cross-examining Depp by asking him about a detox trip on his private island in the Bahamas in August 2014. The trip is one of 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence, all denied by Depp, relied on by NGN in their defense against the actor’s libel claim.

    Depp was asked if he “hit and pushed” Heard, to which he said: “I didn’t push Ms Heard or attack her in any way, as certainly I was not in any condition to do so.” He added that he “was in no physical condition to push anyone”.

    The court heard details of a text message exchange between Depp and his mother-in-law, sent during the Bahamas trip. In one text, Depp told her “your daughter has risen far above the nightmarish task of taking care of this poor old junkie.”

    It also said: “My words are truly feeble in attempting to explain her heroism in a text – suffice to say that I have never met or loved a woman or a thing more.”

    In a separate message to Heard herself, Depp wrote: “Thank you so much for getting me f****** clean baby.”

    The actor’s case against NGN and Wootton arises out of the publication of an article on The Sun’s website on April 27 2018 with the headline “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”.

    NGN is defending the article as true and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs” between early 2013 and May 2016, when the couple split.

    A separate libel claim brought by Depp against Heard in the US, over a December 2018 column in the Washington Post, which said the actress received “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out,”, but did not mention Mr Depp by name, is due to begin in January 2021.

    The pair met in 2011 and began living together in 2012 before marrying in Los Angeles in February 2015.

    Johnny Depp Denies Slapping Amber Heard Three Times After She Mocked His Winona Ryder Tattoo

    (7/8/20) Johnny Depp has denied slapping his ex-wife Amber Heard after she laughed at his “Wino Forever” tattoo, as he faced further questioning on the second day of high-profile libel action against The Sun newspaper.

    The Hollywood actor rejected suggestions he slapped Heard three times during a time when he had “fallen off the wagon” after she made a joke of the etching on his arm – saying “that is not true, you are mistaken”. The 57-year-old was probed about the alleged incident as he re-entered the witness box to give evidence in his claim.

    Depp is suing the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over the 2018 article, which labelled him a “wife-beater” and referred to “overwhelming evidence” that he attacked Heard, 34, during their relationship – which he strenuously denies.

    Sasha Wass QC, for NGN, asked Depp about the alleged incident in March 2013, which Depp agreed was at a time when he had “fallen off the wagon” following about 160 days of sobriety. It involved a tattoo the actor had done on his arm during his relationship with actress Winona Ryder, which read “Winona Forever” and which he had changed to “Wino Forever” after they split.

    Wass put it to Depp that he had slapped Heard three times after she laughed at the tattoo during a period where he was drinking heavily.

    She said: “Do you accept that Ms Heard was making a joke out of your tattoo, ‘Wino Forever’?”

    Depp replied: “I don’t recall any conversation.”

    Sasha Wass QC continued: “I suggest that that provoked disappointment, firstly, in you, and then anger in you, but you don’t remember.”

    Depp replied: “I don’t recall any argument about any of my tattoos.”

    Wass said: “You then, Mr Depp, slapped Ms Heard across the face.”

    The actor responded: “That is not correct, it’s untrue. It didn’t happen.”

    Wass said: “You slapped her more than once, because after you slapped her the first time, she didn’t react, she just eyeballed you, she just stared at you, and that made you more angry and you slapped her again.”

    Depp answered: “That is patently untrue.”

    Wass then put it to the actor that he slapped his former wife three times in total during the incident, to which he replied: “I’m sorry but that is not true, you are mistaken.”

    The barrister then put it to Depp that he “broke down” after coming to his senses and realising what he had done, to which he said: “I didn’t hit Ms Heard.”

    Heard claims that Depp first hit her in early 2013 – one of 14 separate allegations of domestic violence, all denied by Depp, relied on by NGN in their defence.

    Wass had opened the second day of Depp’s cross-examination by asking the actor about his drug use, saying: “Were you taking cocaine in March 2013?” Depp replied that it was “difficult to recollect if I was taking cocaine in March 2013… it’s possible.”

    The barrister later told the court that Heard had told Depp “that she knew all about addiction because her father and, indeed, also her mother had also been drug users.” Depp said that was true and that he became “very close” with Heard’s father and mother. But the actor denied that Heard had said “she could help him” with his drug use.

    The actor’s case against NGN and Wootton arises out of the publication of an article on The Sun’s website on April 27 2018 with the headline “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”

    NGN is defending the article as true and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs” between early 2013 and May 2016, when the couple split.

    In a written outline of the actor’s case, his barrister, David Sherborne, said the article made “defamatory allegations of the utmost seriousness” against Depp, accusing him of committing serious assaults on Heard and “inflicting such serious injuries that she feared for her life”.

    Sherborne said: “The articles amount to a full-scale attack on the claimant as a ‘wife beater’, guilty of the most horrendous physical abuse. The claimant’s position is clear – Ms Heard’s allegations are complete lies. The claimant was not violent towards Ms Heard, it was she who was violent to him.”

    He added: “The marriage was at times physical, at her instigation, and on occasions he found it necessary to defend himself from her violence. He is not a wife-beater and never has been.”

    A separate libel claim brought by Depp against Heard in the US, over a December 2018 column in the Washington Post – which said the actress received “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out” but did not mention Depp by name, is due to begin next January. The pair met in 2011 and began living together in 2012 before marrying in Los Angeles in February 2015.

    The trial continues.

    Johnny Depp Libel Trial: Actor’s Attorney Says Amber Heard “Invented” Abuse Claims & Now He Wants “Vindication”

    (7/7/20) Johnny Depp “is not and never has been a wife beater” and his libel action against The Sun newspaper is “not a case about money” but about “vindication,” his lawyers have told the High Court.

    In a written opening note at the start of the three-week trial in London, the actor’s lead counsel, David Sherborne, said the Hollywood star has come to court “to clear his reputation.”

    He also argued that Depp’s ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, has “invented these stories of serious violence” and that she was the “abuser” in the relationship.

    Depp, 57, is suing the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an article which called him a “wife-beater.” The article related to allegations made against Depp by Heard, 34, that he was violent towards her during their marriage – claims he strenuously denies.

    In his written opening remarks, Sherborne said that one of the issues the court needs to decide is “whether the allegations published by the defendants are true.”

    “If it finds that they are untrue, as we say they are, then the court will proceed to make an award of damages,” he said.

    “It will come as no surprise to hear that this is not a case about money. It is about vindication. Mr Depp has made that clear at various hearings. That is why he has come here – to clear his reputation.”

    In his note, Sherborne gave a summary of the main allegations of domestic violence at the heart of the case. He said it is Depp’s case that he “did not attack Ms Heard on these occasions or at all.”

    “Ms Heard has invented these stories of serious violence,” the barrister said. “He (Depp) is not and never has been a wife-beater. Indeed, he says that it was Ms Heard who was the one who started physical fights, who punched or hit him (and there was little he could really do to stop this); she was the abuser, not him. And the contemporaneous evidence fully supports that, as the court will hear.”

    Sherborne said the article written by Wootton “repeated Ms Heard’s allegations, referring to what he described as ‘overwhelming evidence’ in her favor, in an obvious attempt to confirm categorically in the readers’ minds, several million readers’ minds, that these appalling and serious allegations of criminality were true”.

    He added that Wootton and The Sun newspaper “also chose to make deliberate and highly topical references to the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements” as well as to disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

    Sherborne went on: “The starkly contrasting nature of the evidence given by Mr Depp and Ms Heard is one of the defining features of this case, and the court will obviously need to resolve their conflicting testimonies. There is no real room for a middle ground here.

    “One side is plainly lying, and to an extraordinary extent. Either Ms Heard’s allegations are true, in all their various forms now, and therefore Mr Depp has chosen to launch and pursue a lengthy libel claim despite knowing that the article which forms the subject matter of the claim is completely true.

    “Or, as we say, Ms Heard has concocted them, embellishing and adding to them over the years … which means that Mr Depp is right in seeking vindication before this court from a hugely influential newspaper that sought to act as judge (and jury) by endorsing and convicting him in relation to Ms Heard’s allegations, not to mention demanding an end to his career as the punishment he supposedly deserved.

    “You might be forgiven for wondering why would Mr Depp put himself through all of this process otherwise, i.e. if he were in fact guilty. That is the determination for this court. Mr Depp is either guilty of being a wife beater for having assaulted his ex-wife on numerous occasions, causing the most appalling injuries, or he has been very seriously and wrongly accused.”

    In its opening argument, News Group Newspapers lawyers said the description of Depp as a “wife-beater” was accurate.

    In a written opening note, Sasha Wass QC, barrister for News Group Newspapers, said: “The defendants will demonstrate that the description of Mr Depp as a ‘wife beater’ is entirely accurate and truthful.

    “They will show that the sting of the articles is correct – namely that the claimant beat his wife Amber Heard, causing her to suffer significant injury and on occasion leading to her fearing for her life.

    “This defence is supported by witness testimony, medical evidence, photographs, video, audio recordings, digital evidence and Mr Depp’s own texts.”

    In her note, Wass described Heard as an “intelligent and independent woman who has developed her own career as an actress”.

    She said: “Her independence and self-determination gave rise to a series of conflicts between the two, with Mr Depp seeking to control Ms Heard’s social life and career choices. Ms Heard was forging her own way in the acting profession and was not content to play the role of a supplicant consort.

    “As a result of her having her own career, disputes between the two increasingly arose where Ms Heard’s professional life clashed with Mr Depp’s desire to dominate the relationship.

    “These conflicts manifested themselves in arguments where Mr Depp became abusive and aggressively jealous, on occasion falsely accusing Ms Heard of having sexual relationships with her co-stars. Matters were not helped by the generational difference between Ms Heard and Mr Depp which fueled Mr Depp’s insecurity.

    “This exacerbated his well-documented dependence and excessive abuse of alcohol and controlled drugs which dated back to Mr Depp’s time as a young man.”

    Wass said that during the relationship, Ms Heard was “understanding and supportive” of all Depp’s attempts to rehabilitate himself” and during the early period of his attempts to “kick his addiction” he was “appreciative” of her support.

    But she said that on occasions, when he “failed to control his alcohol and substance abuse”, Depp “turned his rage and frustration on Ms Heard, berating her and launching into a variety of vile, crude and unreasonable accusations.”

    Wass said: “On such occasions, Mr Depp’s aggression typically descended into physically destructive behaviour, including the use of violence against her. His ‘wife-beating’ behaviour included throwing objects at her, slapping her across the face, kicking her, gripping her around the throat and threatening to kill her.

    “In periods of sobriety following Mr Depp’s destructive rages, he recognised the problems he faced, apologised to Ms Heard and blamed what he described as ‘his illness’. He referred to his drunken and violent persona as ‘the monster.’

    “When sober, Mr Depp was capable of kindness, charm and generosity. The side of character which he described as ‘the monster’ was jealous, controlling, violent and savage. It is these characteristics which qualify him for the term ‘wife-beater’.”

    The trial continues.

    Johnny Depp’s Libel Battle With The Sun Gets Green Light To Go Ahead Next Week

    (7/2/20) Johnny Depp’s libel battle with British tabloid newspaper The Sun will go ahead next week after a High Court judge ruled in his favor, despite the Pirates Of The Caribbean star failing to disclose a series of explosive texts related to the case.

    Depp is suing Dan Wootton, the executive editor of The Sun, and the Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, for defamation over an article in April 2018 that referred to him as a “wife-beater” following allegations made by his ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp strenuously denies Heard’s claims.

    His case was thrown into peril on Monday, however, when judge Mr Justice Nicol ruled that he should have disclosed a series of text messages showing him apparently trying to obtain drugs while in Australia with Heard in March 2015. The exchanges between Depp and his assistant, Nathan Holmes, took place shortly before Heard claimed she was subjected to a “three-day ordeal of physical assaults” from Depp while he was “under the influence of drink and/or drugs.”

    But following a rescue bid by Depp’s legal team, during which they acknowledged and apologized for breaching the court order, Mr Justice Nicol said the case can proceed to a full three-week trial at the Royal Courts of Justice in London from July 7.

    The judge said that the ruling was subject to Depp “not seeking sanctions against Heard” for “any breach of the Virginia protective order because of such assistance as she has already or may in the course of this litigation give to the defendants.” This is a reference to separate libel proceedings Depp is bringing against Heard in the U.S., from which News Group Newspapers obtained a copy of the “drug texts.”

    Mr Justice Nicol also denied Depp an application for disclosure against Heard. Depp’s attorneys wanted the actress to produce recordings of exchanges between the former couple, as well as photographs taken by Heard showing alleged damage to property caused by Depp “in the course of his violent attacks.”

    A transcript of one of the recordings, which is said to have been captured in July 2016, is disputed by Depp and News Group Newspapers. In one exchange, News Group Newspaper claims Heard said, “You can throw a punch but yet screaming’s okay,” whereas Depp claims she actually said, “You can’t throw a punch but yet screaming’s okay.” Depp’s lawyers say that his version is consistent with his claim that Heard “was violent to him and he did not punch her.”

    Johnny Depp’s Libel Battle With British Tabloid Dealt Blow After He Failed To Disclose “Drug Texts”

    (6/29/20) Johnny Depp’s libel battle with British tabloid newspaper The Sun has suffered a blow after a High Court judge ruled that he failed to comply with a disclosure order in relation to a series of “drug texts” he sent during a trip to Australia five years ago.

    Depp is suing Dan Wootton, the executive editor of The Sun, and the Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, for defamation over an article in April 2018 that referred to him as a “wife-beater” following allegations made by his ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp strenuously denies Heard’s claims.

    News Group Newspapers requested that the case be thrown out of the High Court last week after Depp failed to disclose text messages showing him apparently trying to obtain drugs while in Australia with Heard in March 2015.

    The text exchanges between Depp and his assistant, Nathan Holmes, took place shortly before Heard claimed she was subjected to a “three-day ordeal of physical assaults” from Depp while he was “under the influence of drink and/or drugs.”

    On Monday, Mr Justice Nicol agreed that the messages should have been disclosed by Depp’s legal team. “The Australian drug texts were adverse to the claimant’s pleaded case and/or were supportive of the defendants’ pleaded case,” the judge said. “I agree that the timing is significant. The exchanges with Mr Holmes began shortly before the alleged incidents in Australia.”

    Mr Justice Nicol did not, however, strike out the case and has given Depp the opportunity to rescue the situation by applying for “relief against sanctions” ahead of a three-week trial, which is due to take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London from July 7. A hearing on the sanctions was set for today.

    Depp’s attorney David Sherborne argued last week that the texts “did not bear on any of the issues” at play in the libel proceedings. Depp has been open about his past problems with drug addiction, Sherborne said, and the messages do not prove that he succeeded in obtaining narcotics while in Australia.

    The texts form part of separate libel proceedings Depp is bringing against Heard in the U.S., and excerpts were published in Mr Justice Nicol’s ruling on Monday. They show Depp making a number of requests of Holmes. “We should have more happy pills!!!??” he said in one text, while in another he added: “May I be ecstatic again???” In a separate message, Depp said: “Need more whitey stuff ASAP brotherman.”

    Amber Heard had a threesome with Cara Delevingne and Elon Musk, deposition reveals

    (6/17/20) Johnny Depp’s defamation suit against his ex-wife Amber Heard has revealed that Heard once had a threesome with Elon Musk and Cara Delevingne.

    According to the Daily Mail, the 57-year-old Depp “hasn’t ruled out” serving Delevingne, 27, with a subpoena to see if she has any useful information about Heard.

    Josh Drew — the ex-husband of Raquel “Rocky” Pennington, Heard’s best friend — contended in a deposition by Depp’s attorney Benjamin Chew that Musk, 48, slept with Heard and Delevingne at Depp’s LA penthouse.

    Drew was, at the time, living rent-free in one of Depp’s other apartments near the penthouse in downtown LA, and has continued to socialize with Heard as of last year. The “Aquaman” actress is reportedly also paying for his attorney as well.

    “Cara could also be compelled to give evidence — by either party,” the Mail quotes a source as saying. “It’s definitely a possibility. Almost anything can happen in this case.” Actor James Franco has also been subpoenaed for any materials related to Heard, as has Musk.

    Drew claims that the affair occurred while Heard and Depp were married; Musk insists the pair only got together after her split from Depp. (Heard filed for divorce in May 2016.) The “Fantastic Beasts” actor, meanwhile, cites building staff who say Musk visited Heard “late at night” while Depp was abroad filming “Pirates of the Caribbean” in 2015.

    Depp’s $50 million defamation suit against Heard was spurred by her Washington Post op-ed in which she claimed he abused her. His suit denies her claims and frames Heard as the abuser in the relationship. Depp is also suing the UK’s Sun over a 2018 article calling him a “wife-beater,” which he suggests was responsible for the “Pirates” franchise moving on without him, though franchise head Jerry Bruckheimer has remained vague on Depp’s erasure from the series.

    Johnny Depp-Produced Doc On Pogues Frontman Shane MacGowan Picked Up By Magnolia Pictures

    (6/10/20) “I’ve got a feeling,” goes the Pogues’ classic song “Fairytale of New York,” “this year’s for me and you.”

    It might well be a good year indeed for the former frontman of the Celtic punk band as Magnolia Pictures have picked up the North American rights to the Johnny Depp-produced documentary Crock of Gold – A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan.

    First put out to market earlier this year at the European Film Market, the Julien Temple-directed look at the hard-living English-born poet was acquired by Magnolia after a bit of bidding war, I hear. From Temple’s Nitrate Film, Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and Stephen Malit, the deal was closed by Magnolia EVP Dori Begley and SVP Acquisitions John Von Thaden, and by HanWay Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

    HanWay Films has worldwide sales rights on the project. Altitude Films will distribute the film in the UK and Ireland, with Crock of Gold to be aired on BBC Four. The illustrious Ralph Steadman provides animation on the film.

    Over on this side of the Atlantic, Magnolia is planning a theatrical release of Crock of Gold later this year.

    “We here at Magnolia are very excited to bring audiences this film about a true icon, Shane MacGowan, directed by another icon, Julien Temple,” Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles told Deadline. “This is something to hoist a pint of Guinness over,” he added, in no small reference to MacGowan’s once legendary ability to imbibe.

    Having scored a global hit with the often tear-jerking “Fairytale of New York” back in 1987, the rollicking Pogues moved up from the clubs and pubs to the big leagues while losing none of the lyrical dexterity nor musical nimbleness that fueled them from their birth in London’s punk scene. MacGowan left soon after the release of the band’s 1990 Joe Strummer-produced album Hell’s Ditch.

    The ex-Clash singer replaced MacGowan on the Pogues’ subsequent tour as the latter went on to start a solo career A solo career that included his good pal Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp appearing on MacGowan’s 1994 album The Snake.

    Since then, MacGowan has rejoined the Pogues on and off during the early 2000s and put out a few more solo records and the autobiographical A Drink with Shane MacGowan with his now-wife Victoria Mary Clarke.

    With several members of the Pogues, Depp and the likes of U2’s Bono, Nick Cave, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie and Sex Pistols’ original bassist Glen Matlock plus Ireland’s president in attendance, MacGowan celebrated his 60th birthday at National Concert Hall in 2018. Featuring the now wheelchair-bound singer literally front and center, that event is the culmination in many ways of Temple’s Crock of Gold.

    “Irascible, intractable, infuriating, fascinating, appalling, galling, bellicose, comatose, cantankerous, cadaverous, impossible, unstoppable – filming Shane is like flying through a radioactive rainbow but in the end there is an inner Crock of Gold waiting to be discovered by those who try hard enough,” says Temple of both making the project and its subject. “Hence the title of the film, taken from the old Irish legend of the same name,” The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle director adds.

    Along with Temple, Depp and his Infinitum Nihil partner Stephen Deuters and Malit, the BBC Music, Warner Music Entertainment and HanWay Films project is also EP’d by Jan Younghusband, Head of Music Commissioning for BBC Music, Steven Lappin for Warner Music Entertainment together with Jeremy Thomas of Recorded Picture Company, Gerry O’Boyle, Manish Patel and Sam Sarkar. Victoria Mary Clarke is associate producer on Crock of Gold.

    Johnny Depp questions Amber Heard's charity donations from divorce payout

    (6/5/20) Johnny Depp has issued subpoenas to collect any communication ex-wife Amber Heard may have had with a number of charities following the couple’s divorce.

    The Pirates of the Caribbean star is requesting all documents and communication Heard may have had with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles regarding donations that were made following the couple’s split, as his legal team questions about how much money she transferred to the non-profits.

    According to new legal documents obtained by The Blast, Depp filed the subpoenas in Virginia, asking the court to force each organization to give up all information concerning his former wife, who he became legally separated from in 2017.

    The actor’s team is asking for “communications” including, “any written or verbal exchanges between any person or persons or entities, including but not limited to verbal conversations, telephone calls, letters, e-mails, memoranda, reports, telegraphs, faxes, exhibits, drawings, text messages, and any other documents which confirm or related to the written or verbal exchange.”

    The subpoenas are asking for, “All documents that refer, reflect or relate to any donations made to YOU or for YOUR benefit by Ms. Heard, from January 1, 2016, through and including the present.”

    The move comes following the couple’s divorce settlement, which stated that the actress would get US$7 million ($9.39 million) from the actor as an equalization payment – but it was agreed upon that the money would be donated to charity.

    The settlement followed weeks of negotiation between the pair, after the Aquaman star filed a restraining order and for divorce, accusing Depp of hurling a phone at her face and assaulting her in their home. Heard later withdrew the allegations that she was physically abused.

    The Sweeney Todd star is currently suing Heard for defamation in Virginia over an article she wrote in December, 2018 for The Washington Post, in which she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

    Johnny Depp UK Libel Battle: Winona Ryder & Vanessa Paradis Ride To Actor’s Defense Over Abuse Claims

    (5/14/20) Johnny Depp’s former lovers Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis have rallied around the actor, submitting statements defending his character as part of a libel trial in the UK courts.

    Depp is suing Dan Wootton, the executive editor of The Sun, and the Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, for defamation over an article in April 2018 that referred to him as a “wife-beater.”

    The remark was a reference to a string of allegations made by Depp’s former wife, Amber Heard — allegations that the Pirates Of The Caribbean star strenuously denies. Heard’s claims are subject to messy legal proceedings in the U.S.

    At a remote High Court hearing in the UK on Wednesday, Depp’s lawyers attempted to admit witness statements from Ryder and Paradis, according to Press Association. News Group Newspapers did not oppose the application.

    Paradis, the French model and actress who has two children with Depp, said in her statement: “I have known Johnny for more than 25 years. We’ve been partners for 14 years and we raised our two children together. Through all these years I’ve known Johnny to be a kind, attentive, generous, and non-violent person and father.”

    Stranger Things star Ryder supported this sentiment when reflecting on her relationship with Depp in the 1990s. She said: “I cannot wrap my head around [Heard’s] accusations. He was never, never violent towards me. He was never, never abusive at all towards me.”

    Depp’s libel action was due to go to court in March but was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The case will now be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice over three weeks from July 7. Depp’s barrister David Sherborne said the actor intends to travel to London from his home in France to give evidence, Press Association reports.

    In a statement, Depp’s attorney said: “Yesterday’s pre-trial review was largely a hearing of The Sun’s attempts to first publicly smear, and then seek to exclude the testimony of multiple witnesses against their friend Amber Heard. One witness who will not be heard from is Dan Wootton, the co-defendant who wrote the Sun article about Johnny Depp and JK Rowling, but refuses to testify as to its truth.”

    Johnny Depp set to sue British tabloid over alleged phone hacking

    (5/12/20) Johnny Depp is set to take legal action against the publisher of British newspaper The Sun over alleged phone hacking.

    Depp is already suing The Sun’s executive editor, Dan Wootton and its publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) over a 2018 article which referred to him as a “wife-beater” in reference to allegations made by his ex-wife Amber Heard during their divorce.

    His lawyer, Adam Waldman confirmed to WENN that The Pirates of the Caribbean actor had filed a new letter of claim against News Group Newspapers stating that he intends to pursue legal action alleging “multiple breaches” of his privacy – including phone hacking.

    “Johnny Depp continues his zero tolerance policy for illegal activity directed against him,” Waldman said in a statement. “The Sun and its sister entity illegally hacked hundreds of people over a period of years, as evidenced by the tens of millions of pounds they have already paid out to dozens of their victims.

    “Johnny Depp will show that Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers targeted Mr. Depp too, illegally obtaining information about some of the most personal and intimate occurrences in his life.”

    In his letter, first reported by The Blast website, Depp explains that his team has conducted an investigation and he believes his phone was hacked between the years 1996 and 2010 – and that The Sun ran “intrusive” stories about his private life during the period.

    These include stories about his then partner Vanessa Paradis’ pregnancies in 1998 and 2002, as well as his daughter Lily-Rose Depp’s 2007 hospitalization for kidney failure.

    Representatives for The Sun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    In 2011, The Sun’s sister newspaper The News of the World was closed down after a scandal over accusations its reporters accessed the voicemail inboxes of British celebrities and that of a teenage murder victim Milly Dowler. Stars including Elton John, and actress Elizabeth Hurley have accepted payouts from NGN after bringing legal cases over alleged phone hacking.

    911 call about alleged Johnny Depp, Amber Heard fight released

    (4/28/20) A 911 call a friend of Amber Heard’s allegedly made to report the actress’ marriage-ending 2016 fight with Johnny Depp was published on Monday — and both parties claim it bolsters their case.

    The recording, posted by the Daily Mail, was timestamped around 8:30 p.m. on May 21, 2016, the night Heard claims Depp repeatedly hit her, ripped out her hair, choked and nearly suffocated her, according to the outlet.

    “Hi, I need to report an assault right now happening at 849 Broadway at the Eastern building, it’s penthouse three,” the female caller says in the recording, referring to the home the celebrity couple shared.

    The caller, who asks to remain anonymous, says her friend named Amber called to say that her boyfriend was physically assaulting her.

    “Send somebody up there please,” she says.

    But lawyers for Depp, 56, who denies assaulting the “Aquaman” actress, claim the 911 call raises questions about her allegations.

    They pointed out that the female voice on the recording doesn’t belong to iO Tillett Wright, a longtime friend of Heard’s who has said he called 911.

    That call was recorded in police logs at around 10 p.m., Depp’s attorney said, alleging the discrepancy was proof that Heard and her friends tried to set up the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star.

    “Quite simply this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops but the first attempt didn’t do the trick,” Adam Waldman told Daily Mail.

    Heard’s lawyer dismissed Waldman’s claim as “fantasies.”

    “Mr. Depp’s representations about the 911 calls on the night of May 21, 2016 are false, and Mr. Depp and his lawyers should know better,” said Roberta Kaplan.

    A lawyer for Tillett Wright said he called the cops from New York and had enlisted a friend to phone 911 from Los Angeles, too.

    The 911 call recording appears to have been submitted as evidence in the $50 million defamation lawsuit Depp filed against 34-year-old Heard in Virginia.

    Depp sued his ex-wife in 2018 over a Washington Post op-ed she penned about her experience as a victim of domestic violence. Depp was not named in the piece, but he insists it was strongly inferred he was the perpetrator.

    Heard responded to his lawsuit in April this year by detailing the alleged “horrific” abuse she claims she suffered at the hands of the actor.

    The “The Rum Diary” co-stars were married for just over a year before they separated in May 2016.

    JEFF BECK And JOHNNY DEPP Team Up For Cover of JOHN LENNON's 'Isolation'

    (4/16/20) JEFF BECK And JOHNNY DEPP Team Up For Cover of JOHN LENNON's 'Isolation': Listen.

    Johnny Depp’s $50M Defamation Case Lives On As Amber Heard’s Dismissal Desire Denied

    (3/28/20) With his legal action against a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid on hold in the U.K. due to coronavirus lockdowns, Johnny Depp today saw Amber Heard’s moves to effectively steamroll his $50 million defamation suit against the Aquaman star hit a significant judicial roadblock.

    “Defendant’s Demurrer is sustained as to the fourth statement listed above, but it is overruled as to the other three statements,” wrote Fairfax County Chief Judge Bruce White on Friday in a lengthy opinion letter to lawyers on both sides of this very personal and messy battle. “Further, Defendant’s Plea in Bar regarding the statute of limitations is denied. Counsel shall prepare an Order reflecting the Court’s ruling and forward that Order to the Court for entry,” the Virginia state judge added.

    Ostensibly still set to go to trial in the Commonwealth in August, the already quite litigious Depp first filed the suit just over a year ago in the southern state with more flexible defamation laws that California or New York. “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” the complaint from the repeatedly innocence proclaiming Pirates of the Caribbean star insisted in reaction to an op-end that Herd wrote on domestic violence for The Washington Post in December 2018.

    Team Johnny unusually did not respond to request for comment on today’s letter from Judge White, but Heard’s top lawyer Roberta Kaplan certainly tried to gleam some victory from the sting of a defeat to dismiss and avoid a trial.

    “Today’s decision leaves it to a jury to decide the meaning of Ms. Heard’s op-ed and the truth of what she said,” the Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP partner told Deadline. “As we have said all along, the courts have strong mechanisms in place for determining the truth,” the defense attorney stated also, having filed the dismissal attempt back in September. “Here, we remain confident that Ms. Heard will prevail at trial when the jury is presented with evidence on the question that the Court identified – namely, whether ‘Ms. Heard was abused by Mr. Depp.'”

    Born into a media spotlight, the Rum Diary co-stars relatively short marriage came to an end in 2016 with a temporary restraining order slapped against Oscar nominee Depp over domestic violence claims. Their relationship ended in an a $7 million divorce settlement, most of which Heard ultimately donated to charity.

    Though Heard’s WaPo op-ed never actually mentions Depp by name, the actor and his lawyers additionally claimed that the piece tarnished the Hollywood Vampire guitarist’s good-ish name. Amidst a series of lawsuit and settlements, many in Depp’s favor, over recent years, that PR stain supposedly cost him a place in the planned Pirates reboot – a claim the franchise’s studio Disney never confirmed nor denied — or even said was on the high seas at the time.

    Hunkered down in France and unable to travel due to COVID-19 restrictions in Europe and around the globe, Depp was set to take The Sun newspaper to trial in London for libel on March 23. The Murdoch tab called the Sweeney Todd lead a “wife-beater” in a 2018 article on his marriage to Heard and his status in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

    “Mr. Depp has spent years seeking justice,” said Depp lead lawyer Adam Waldman earlier this month of the UK postponement.

    “The Judge hearing Mr. Depp’s defamation case against the Sun raised safety and practicality concerns,” the DC-based attorney noted of the decision by High Court Judge Andrew Nicol. “Although the case is extremely important to Mr. Depp, he was also uneasy about putting anyone else in harm’s way for the sake of it …Mr Depp will wait for courts and borders to safely reopen, and then we will do this properly.”

    That courts plural being in London and Virginia’s Fairfax county now.

    Johnny Depp’s libel case against UK tabloid stalled by coronavirus

    (3/20/20) Johnny Depp’s libel suit against British tabloid The Sun was put on hold Friday as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Depp is suing the newspaper’s parent company, News Group Newspapers, and executive editor Dan Wootton over a 2018 article claiming he was violent and abusive to his ex-wife Amber Heard.

    A trial had been due to start Monday at the High Court in London, with Depp, Heard and other celebrities due to give evidence. But judge Andrew Nicol said Friday that he had “reached the reluctant conclusion that the trial does have to be adjourned.”

    The judge said two of Depp’s legal representatives had already had to self-isolate because of the virus, and added that “no-one can predict whether others involved in the case, and I do not exclude myself, will either become infected or need to self-isolate.”

    Depp’s lawyer, Jennifer Afia, told a preliminary hearing this week that the actor was at a “remote location” in the south of France and could not travel because of restrictions imposed to fight the pandemic.

    But the newspaper’s attorney, Adam Wolanski, alleged Depp wanted to delay the trial “because he’s a coward and because he knows he’s going to lose.” He said that despite the pandemic, Heard was willing to travel from Los Angeles to London to testify, or to give evidence by video.

    Depp, 56, and Heard, 33, met on the set of 2011 comedy “The Rum Diary” and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They divorced in 2017.

    Depp is also suing Heard for libel in the United States.

    Johnny Depp and Amber Heard slated to appear in London court Monday

    (3/18/20) Will warring exes Johnny Depp and Amber Heard finally come face to face at a trial over his alleged abuse at London’s High Court?

    Despite the worldwide travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, Depp plans to fly in from his French chateau to be at the court in person for the anticipated start of the trial Monday. He has suggested Heard should be there too. Depp is suing British paper the Sun over a 2018 story stating he is a “wife-beater,” which he claims cost him the role in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Depp, who finalized his divorce from Heard in 2016, is also suing her in the US in a $50 million defamation case. Depp strongly denies abusing Heard, claiming she was the “aggressor.”

    Depp is currently practicing social distancing at his sprawling $63 million chateau in the South of France, while Heard is in LA. A British judge will rule on Friday if the trial can proceed, given the risk of gathering a large group of lawyers and media in a courtroom.

    A rep for Heard told Page Six, on the heels of a series of leaked tapes from the stars’ toxic marriage, “Amber … is very eager for the UK trial to proceed. In the lead-up to trial, Mr. Depp and his team have engaged in a daily press campaign to selectively leak materials, spin them in every way possible and embarrass and harass Amber and the people around her, including potential witnesses.

    “Ms. Heard believes that the truth coming to light through the presentation of evidence in court will finally put an end to this abusive campaign. If she is required to testify in person, Ms. Heard will travel to London if she is legally permitted to do so … Otherwise, Ms. Heard will make sure that she is available to testify [via] video.”

    Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman — after another day of allegations about the events leading up to the actor suffering a severed finger in 2015 — said, “Our opponents are so lost in their lies, they can’t even get their fake sequence of events, times or dates straight.”

    Amber Heard smashed a door into Johnny Depp’s head, leaked court tape says

    (3/18/20) Amber Heard admitted to smashing a door into Johnny Depp’s head in the latest of a series of leaked recordings from their explosive court battle over alleged domestic violence.

    In the new tape, the actress, 33, admits to also “clocking” the 56-year-old “Pirates of the Caribbean” star in the jaw, saying, “I am so sorry … I can remember hitting you as a response to the door thing. And I’m really sorry about hitting you with the door or hitting your head. I did not mean to.”

    Depp’s lawyers played the audiotape to Heard in August 2016 while she was giving a videotaped deposition in their bitter divorce trial. On the audiotape, Depp is heard saying, “I’d just been hit in the head with a f–king corner of the door … And then I stood up and then you f–king clock me.” Heard responds, “I did not do this thing with the door … [but] I did mean to hit you.”

    In the deposition, after listening to the audiotape, Heard repeatedly claims that she didn’t purposely slam the door into Depp’s face. “I was trying to escape from a room where Johnny was attacking me … I was trying to get onto the other side of the door, attempting to close the door, and he was attempting to get in, despite my attempts to try to escape an assault.” Of her apology to Depp on the tape, “I made it very clear I was sorry that the door hit him as I went into the room I was … attempting to escape into.” But she told Depp’s lawyers in the deposition that the taped conversation “misrepresents what actually happened, which is him trying to get into a room, which I was trying to get him out of.”

    The tapes — made by the couple as part of their marital therapy — resurfaced as Depp and Heard prepare to go to court in his defamation lawsuit against her for $50 million after she wrote a Washington Post op-ed about her experience as a victim of domestic violence, without naming him. Heard claimed in their divorce that he repeatedly hit her before and after their February 2015 marriage. Depp strongly denies this, arguing that in fact he was the victim of domestic violence.

    Johnny Depp’s ex-wife Vanessa Paradis defends him in Amber Heard defamation lawsuit

    (3/16/20) Johnny Depp has found another supporter in his ongoing legal battle with Amber Heard.

    His ex-wife, Vanessa Paradis.

    Paradis, 47, filed a declaration in support of Depp’s defamation case against Heard. This follows news that another Depp ex — Winona Ryder — filed a similar declaration last week in the same suit.

    “I work as a musician, singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion model,” Paradis stated in her declaration, via The Blast. Paradis goes on to affirm: “I have known Johnny Depp for more than 25 years. We’ve been partners for 14 years and we raised our two children together. Through all these years I’ve known Johnny to be a kind, attentive, generous, and non-violent person and father.”

    Depp, 56, and Paradis were together for 14 years, from 1999 to 2012.

    The singer — who tied the knot with Samuel Benchetrit in 2018 — has two kids with Depp: Lily-Rose, 20, and John Christopher, 17.

    “On movie sets the actors, directors and entire crews adore him because he is humble and respectful to everyone, as well as being one of the best actors we’ve seen,” the declaration continued.

    “I am aware of the allegations which Amber Heard has publicly accused Johnny of for more than 4 years now…This is nothing like the true Johnny I have known, and from my personal experience of many years, I can say he was never violent or abusive to me.” Paradis goes on to state in her declaration, “I have seen that these outrageous statements have been really distressing, and also caused damage to his career because unfortunately, people have gone on believing these false facts.”

    Heard, 33, and Depp were married from 2015 until 2017. After Heard alleged that Depp was violent during their relationship, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor filed a $50 million defamation suit in March 2019.

    In her own court filings, Heard claimed that Depp repeatedly hit her, ripped out her hair, choked and nearly suffocated her.

    The case is currently ongoing.

    Paradis previously defended the actor in 2016 after Heard claimed that Depp attacked her during their marriage.

    “Johnny Depp is the father of my two children, he is a sensitive, loving and loved person, and I believe with all my heart that these recent allegations being made are outrageous,” he said at the time. “In all the years I have known Johnny, he has never been physically abusive with me and this looks nothing like the man I lived with for 14 wonderful years.”

    Winona Ryder defends ex Johnny Depp amid allegations of abuse

    (3/12/20) Johnny Depp has received a big boost in his legal spat with ex-wife Amber Heard from his former fiancee, Winona Ryder.

    The Stranger Things star has filed a declaration in Depp’s defamation case, obtained by The Blast, dismissing Heard’s claims that Depp abused her throughout their 15-month engagement.

    Ryder states she cannot believe her ex-boyfriend would ever commit an act of domestic violence, insisting she never witnessed him being abusive to anyone.

    “I knew Johnny very well years ago,” she writes. “We were together as a couple for four years, and I counted him as my best friend, and as close to me as family. I count our relationship as one of the more significant relationships of my life. I understand that it is very important that I speak from my own experience.

    “I obviously was not there during his marriage to Amber, but, from my experience, which was so wildly different, I was absolutely shocked, confused and upset when I heard the accusations against him. The idea that he is an incredibly violent person is the farthest thing from the Johnny I knew and loved. I cannot wrap my head around these accusations.”

    Winona insists Depp was never violent or abusive towards her, adding: “I truly and honestly only know him as a really good man – an incredibly loving, extremely caring guy who was so very protective of me and the people that he loves, and I felt so very, very safe with him.

    “I do not want to call anyone a liar but from my experience of Johnny, it is impossible to believe that such horrific allegations are true. I find it extremely upsetting knowing him as I do.”

    Ryder previously defended Depp against Heard’s allegations in a Time Magazine piece.

    Johnny is suing Amber for defamation in Virginia over an article she wrote in December 2018 for The Washington Post, in which she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.

    He is demanding damages in excess of $50 million.

    Johnny Depp threatens to ‘burn’ and ‘drown’ ex-wife Amber Heard

    (2/26/20) Raging Johnny Depp texted that he would “burn” and “drown” ex-wife Amber Heard, then “f–k her burnt corpse” during their volatile relationship, a court has heard.

    Previously unseen 2013 messages alleged to have been sent by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, 56, to actor friend Paul Bettany were read out in London’s High Court on Wednesday.

    Depp, who attended the hearing, was in the room as his texts to Bettany were read aloud.

    He allegedly wrote on Nov. 6, 2013, “Let’s burn Amber,” the court heard.

    The court was told he allegedly texted Bettany again that day to say, “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f–k her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead.”

    The court also heard further texts allegedly sent by Depp to Bettany in May 2014, which read: “I’m gonna properly stop the booze thing, darling… Drank all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA, this past Sunday…Ugly, mate.

    “No food for days…powders…half a bottle of whiskey, a thousand red bull and vodkas, pills, 2 bottles of Champers on plane and what do you get..???

    “An angry, aggro Injun in a f–kin’ blackout, screaming obscenities and insulting any f–k who got near…I’m done.

    “I am admittedly too f–ked in the head to spray my rage at the one I love…For little reason, as well I’m too old to be that guy But, pills are fine!!!”

    Depp is in court in London for a preliminary hearing in his libel suit against British newspaper the Sun over an article that alleged Depp had been abusive to Heard, 33.

    His lawyer David Sherborne said the case would feature “diametrically opposed” versions of events from Depp and Heard.

    “One person, one side, is lying, and one is not,” Sherborne said. “Obviously, we say that it is Ms. Heard (who is lying), Mr. Depp is 100% clear about that.”

    Sherborne claimed that Heard was not a victim but the “aggressor” in the couple’s relationship, which ended in May 2016. Depp and Heard divorced in 2017.

    Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman said, “What does the Sun do to keep Amber Heard’s hoax alive? [Wednesday] in court we learned the answer — cherry-picking a fragment of a single frustrated text message to a friend sent out of 500 gigabytes of text and email messages provided.

    “Inconveniently for the Sun, here is what Mr. Depp actually said next in his text – that he could never harm Amber: ‘I am admittedly too f–ked in the head to spray my rage at the one I love’.”

    The full hearing is due to start on March 23. Depp is also suing Heard for libel in the United States.

    Adam Wolanski QC, representing the Sun, told the London court the May 2014 text to Bettany appeared to refer to an alleged “altercation” with Heard on a plane.

    Wolanski said Depp is accused of “screaming obscenities” on the flight as he slapped Heard in the face, kicked her in the back and threw a boot at her, before allegedly “passing out” in the plane toilet. Depp denies he was drunk and abusive during the flight.

    The texts were revealed in court after previous lawyers for Depp had accidentally shared 70,000 messages from and to the actor with the newspaper’s legal team

    “These texts go to the very heart of the case, they are really very important and set out the claimant’s thinking in respect of a number of different incidents and his recollection,” Wolanski said.

    Page Six has learned these texts have not been shared with Heard’s legal team in the US during the discovery process for their upcoming defamation trial.

    Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in Northern Virginia, claiming he was defamed in an op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post in which she called for better support for domestic violence victims like herself, but without naming Depp in the piece.

    In the US libel proceedings, Heard has previously alleged “violent” Depp became “the Monster” on drugs and booze, then beat, strangled and tormented her. She stated Depp repeatedly hit her, ripped out her hair, choked and nearly suffocated her in a Virginia court filing in response to his $50 million defamation lawsuit against her. He strongly denies her claims, arguing she was the aggressor.

    In the US court filings Heard stated that she began dating Depp in early 2012 and “about a year into our relationship, I began to witness Johnny abusing drugs and alcohol … Whenever he was using, I worried for both of us. He would become a totally different person, often delusional and violent. We called that version of Johnny, ‘the Monster.’ Johnny often would not remember his delusional and violent conduct after he came out of his drunk or medicated states … Because I loved Johnny, I had believed his multiple promises that he could and would get better. I was wrong.”

    On a private jet from Boston to Los Angeles in May 2014, Heard’s filing of Depp states: “On the flight, Johnny ordered the flight attendants to give him an oxygen tank, and drank heavily. Johnny’s handlers told me that he was upset that I was filming a movie with a romantic scene with James Franco the day before. At some point, I stood up, and Johnny kicked me in the back, causing me to fall over. Johnny threw his boot at me while I was on the ground. Johnny continued to scream obscenities until he went into the plane bathroom and passed out, locked in the bathroom for the remainder of the flight.

    Depp allegedly apologized in a later text message, writing, “Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course, I am sorry. I really don’t know why or what happened. But I will never do it again.”

    Heard alleged in court filings that just a month into their marriage, in March 2015, Depp — who was supposed to be clean at the time, but didn’t believe taking ecstasy broke his sobriety — went on a three-day bender on MDMA/ecstasy in Australia.

    “Johnny told me that I had not explicitly forbidden him from taking ecstasy. The argument heated up, and Johnny pushed me, slapped me, and shoved me to the ground before I retreated to a locked bedroom.”

    The next morning, “I went downstairs to find that Johnny was still awake, and that he had stayed up all night, having taken about eight MDMA pills. He was also drinking again. We got into a fight that Johnny made physical, and I barricaded myself in one of the rooms. That didn’t stop Johnny from busting through the door of the room I was in. By nightfall, Johnny had hit me multiple times, shoved and pushed me to the ground, choked me, and spit in my face.”

    “That night, Johnny shoved me into a ping pong table that collapsed underneath me. Johnny threw bottles through the window panels of a glass door, breaking two panes, and leaving glass everywhere. Johnny then grabbed me, gripping my body and nightgown. He tore the nightgown off, and at some point, I was naked and barefoot, covered in alcohol and glass.”

    She continued, “In one of the most horrific and scariest moments of this three-day ordeal, Johnny grabbed me by the neck and collarbone and slammed me against the countertop. I struggled to stand up as he strangled me, but my arms and feet kept slipping and sliding on to the spilled alcohol and were dragged against the broken glass on the countertop and floor, which repeatedly slashed my feet and arms.”

    Heard states that the actor was hospitalized, and she was left with “a busted lip, a swollen nose, and cuts all over my body … to this day, I still have scars on my arms and feet from this incident.”

    However US lawyers for Depp have stated, “Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016. They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”

    A series of recordings of Heard in 2015 allegedly admitting to “hitting” Depp were recently been released to media outlets.

    In the audio, the “Aquaman” actress is heard saying, “I’m sorry that I didn’t, uh, uh, hit you across the face in a proper slap, but I was hitting you, it was not punching you. Babe, you’re not punched … I don’t know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you’re fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you. I can’t promise you I won’t get physical again. God I f–king sometimes get so mad I lose it.”

    Depp is heard saying, “I left last night. Honestly, I swear to you because I just couldn’t take the idea of more physicality, more physical abuse on each other … Because had we continued it, it would have gotten f–king bad. And baby, I told you this once. I’m scared to death we are a f–king crime scene right now.”

    He later states, “If things get physical, we have to separate. We have to be apart from one another. Whether it’s for f–king an hour or 10 hours or f–king a day. We must, there can be no physical violence towards each other. All I’m saying is we need to take whatever time we need. You need, I need, to kind of let things settle for a minute. So that we don’t f–king kill each other or f–king worse, you know, f–king really kill each other or f–king break up or whatever.”

    They reconcile in the recordings and vow to work on their marriage, but soon after Heard filed for divorce after 15 months of marriage. The estranged couple eventually agreed to a $7 million divorce settlement in August 2016.

    Reps for Depp didn’t immediately get back to us.

    Johnny Depp’s ‘Minamata’, True-Life Japanese Tragedy, Gets World Premiere & First Look For Buyers

    (2/22/20) One of the more intriguing titles of this year’s Berlin Film Festival is the new Johnny Depp true life drama, Minamata in which Depp plays the famous Life magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith who in 1971 undertook the most challenging and important subject of his career in travelling to the small Japanese village of Minamata which had been ravaged by an outbreak of Mercury Poisoning due to gross negligence by Japan’s Chisso Corporation, the government itself, and even the Yakuza. The important and heartbreaking movie, which I caught at CAA in Los Angeles a few days ago, documents Smith’s efforts to chronicle the tragic effects of the disease and the Minamata inhabitants’ heroic efforts to fight back. As the film shows, Smith was an enormously gifted, if difficult personality, and had to practically beg a reluctant LIFE to give him this opportunity, but the results were eye-opening and the facts of what happened to Smith, personally and professionally, form a particularly impressive outing from Depp who disappears into the role, perhaps his best in a long while (another true story in which he stars, City Of Lies is long-delayed and yet to even see a release after being on the shelf for a couple of years caught up in Global Road’s meltdown).

    Shot in a coastal town in Montenegro and interiors in Belgrade, with a cast that includes Bill Nighy as Smith’s editor at LIFE but also a sterling lineup of Japanese actors all speaking in their own language, Minamata represents the second writing/directing outing for Andrew Levitas who through his Metalworks Pictures and Rogue Black financing entity has also had a prolific lineup of independent films he has produced including The White Crow, My Zoe, Georgetown, Farming, The Gateway, The Quarry, and Lullaby which represented his first directing effort in 2013. Among producing entities joining his companies on this film are Ingenious Media, Infinitum Nihil, Windhorse Entertainment, Magnolia Films UK, Hanway Films Limited, Head Gear Films Metrol Technology, and Lipsync. He was brought into this project by Depp who was anxious to get it made as Levitas told me earlier this week from London before heading to Berlin for tonight’s World Premiere.

    “So, this was something that Johnny had actually wanted to do. This is Johnny’s concept, Johnny’s idea, something that he felt quite passionate about,” he said. ” I don’t want to speak for him, but I think for him it was an intersection of two things, you know, truth and justice in journalism and also people, and we’d often talk about the idea that not everybody gets representation, that there’s people in the world that nobody looks at, nobody seems to care about, no one is paying attention to, and we’re often marginalized, and that’s something I know has kept him up at night a lot over his lifetime because he comes from that kind of background, and he’s always visiting hospitals and doing things, you know, as Jack Sparrow and this sort of thing, when no one is looking because he really cares, and so the film, for him, intersected in that place, and obviously I think the world could use a story like this right now.”

    Levitas said it was an easy fit after he and Depp met at a meeting set up by their mutual agents. It was supposed to last 30 minutes but went on much longer. As a celebrated sculptor and artist himself, in addition to his filmmaking activities, Levitas was just as passionate as Depp about getting this right, and about doing it now. “Firstly, as a photographer and as a fine artist, Eugene Smith is one of my heroes. He’s a guy that I’ve been engaged with his work for as long as I can remember. And also for me as a filmmaker who’s trying to do films that are great to look at that show the human condition, that talk about the human spirit, that are hopeful. That was a thing that Eugene Smith was always able to do. He was able to show you the darkest corners of the room, but show you hope and humanity and joy and love and compassion, and so, he always matched up with me quite well,” he explained. “There’s still tens of thousands of victims fighting to be heard in Minamata, but there’s millions of people around the world who aren’t being heard, and I think this film is, for me, of course, was about making a beautiful piece of cinema and being engaged as an artist but also was about making something that everyone could feel a part of.”

    Levitas says that dealing with a story about how corporations can contaminate the water we drink, the food we eat, was something he could zero in on in order to bring awareness. I brought up the recent Todd Haynes film, Dark Waters which dealt with similar subject matter in a small town where DuPont dumped tons of toxic waste, but Levitas emphasizes Minamata is laser focused on Smith’s story in bringing this all to light through his exquisite and heartbreaking photos (just one year before LIFE went out of business as a weekly), as well as the town’s determination and efforts to fight against Chisso and the government. I pointed out that even before Dark Waters opened this fall, DuPont had launched a misinformation campaign to hurt that movie at the box office. Levitas knows that could be coming here too.

    “Well, I suspect it will get some of that. You know, I suspect some of that in front of us, but in this instance, we are telling a story that is quite well documented and we’re also seeing this world through the lens of Eugene Smith, through a specific man with a specific lens, and it happens to be a beautiful lens. It happens to be a lens that sees the best in those moments, and I think part of our approach to the filmmaking was to make a very attractive and positive movie, a movie that you’d want to see and enjoy even though it was, in some cases about some things that you might not enjoy,” he said. “But also in terms of his approach in the way that he walked through that universe, it’s not really about that corporation. It’s not really about their story. It’s about these people’s story, and so, my responsibility wasn’t really to the corporation or worrying about them in any way. It was about all of these people who fought and who are the real heroes of this story, and one of the things that I’m most proud of, and I think Johnny is as well.”

    Levitas shot the film, which looks great and has a stunning musical score by Oscar winner Riyuichi Sakamoto, in just 36 days on a limited budget. “There’s a long list of people that stepped up, both in terms of putting finances into the film, and a long list of people that didn’t care about getting paid and just wanted to see the film made, and this is one of those stories. Of course, there were a ton of doors that were closed, ” he said about the difficulties of making a movie like this. “And when Johnny and I really just committed to getting it done, we knocked on doors. We called people, we found like- minded people and the big key to this was, we were not willing to take in investors or partners who wanted to mettle or water down what we were doing in anyway. We needed to make this in the most authentic, most honest, and cleanest way without any sort of outward hands getting into it, and we were able to accomplish that, and I for one am incredibly grateful to everybody that stepped up because they really did, and that’s the story of this film.”

    CAA is handling North American sales of the film and Hanway is doing international. Levitas says he only just finished the movie two weeks ago and that Berlin was the first festival they submitted it too. He goes every year and loves it. “Every festival seems to have its own identity, but this one seems to be movies and ultimately as filmmakers, I think that’s where you want to be. You want to be with audiences that are the people, that are not part of a hype machine or part of something else. You want to show human beings your film. To me, it seemed like the most obvious. But also, we could have said no. We could have looked at other things, but to me, the timing was right.”

    Johnny Depp seeks to quash Amber Heard subpoena on Weinstein Company

    (2/15/20) Johnny Depp filed a petition late Friday to quash a subpoena filed by his ex-wife Amber Heard — which seeks to get the Weinstein Company to turn over details on the actor’s dealings with Harvey Weinstein.

    Heard’s subpoena aims to seek discovery relating to Depp’s ongoing $50 million defamation lawsuit against her.

    Depp’s Manhattan Supreme Court petition says the subpoena “is overbroad and seeks the production of documents that are not properly subject to discovery” in the Virginia defamation suit.

    The subpoena requests a number of documents, including all “communications between Mr. Depp and Harvey Weinstein.”

    It also seeks documents “concerning any act of violence committed by Mr. Depp during the production or promotion of ‘The Libertine,’” a 2004 Weinstein Company-produced flick starring Depp.

    Depp filed the defamation suit after Heard – his wife for just over a year until they separated in May 2016 – penned a Washington Post op-ed about her experience as a victim of domestic violence.

    While Depp was not named in the piece, he insisted it was strongly inferred he was the perpetrator. Heard responded by detailing the “horrific” abuse she allegedly suffered at his hands.

    Attorneys for Depp and Heard didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Johnny Depp & Julien Temple Team For Shane MacGowan Doc, HanWay To Launch At EFM

    (2/5/20) Johnny Depp is teaming up with documentary director Julien Temple on doc-biopic Shane about legendary Irish singer Shane MacGowan. HanWay is launching world sales at the EFM and will screen first footage.

    The film will deep dive on the tortured Irish vocalist, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues and for songs “Fairytale Of New York” and “Dirty Old Town.” It will combine animation, unseen footage from Temple’s own archives and contributions from collaborators and his own family. The film will culminate in MacGowan’s 50th birthday celebration where singers, movie stars and rock ’n’ roll outlaws gathered for a knees-up.

    Welsh illustrator Ralph Steadman, well known for his collaborations with American writer Hunter S. Thompson, is providing artworks for animator Jonny Halifax (All Tomorrow’s Parties) to bring to life.

    Temple will produce through Nitrate Film together with Depp and Stephen Deuters (Minamata) through Depp’s production label Infinitum Nihil and Stephen Malit (London: The Modern Babylon). Altitude Films will distribute the film in the UK and Ireland, and it will be broadcast on BBC Four at a later date.

    Depp presents the movie in association with BBC Music, Warner Music Entertainment and HanWay Films, a Nitrate Film and Infinitum Nihil Production of a Julien Temple Film. Jan Younghusband, Head of Music Commissioning, is executive producer for BBC Music, Steven Lappin for Warner Music Entertainment together with Jeremy Thomas of Recorded Picture Company, Gerry O’Boyle, Manish Patel and Sam Sarkar. Victoria Clarke is associate producer.

    Depp noted, “Knowing Shane for 30 years, I am honored to be producing the definitive film on both my friend and one of the most important artists and beloved poets of the 20th century.”

    Temple commented: “It’s not the easiest thing to make a film about Shane MacGowan. The nearest thing I can think of is one of those David Attenborough films. You set the camera traps. You wait and you wait, in the hope that one day the snow leopard will trigger them. Then when you do actually capture the unique force of Shane’s personality, even for a moment onscreen, you realize it was all worthwhile.”

    HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart added: “Shane had a dream to bring Irish music to the next generation and to the world. In that he was truly successful and a purpose very much full-filled. Woven into his documentary Temple movingly manages to bring Shane’s lyrics to life and connects you to the man who has encapsulated the soul of the Irish worldwide.”

    Amber Heard admits to hitting ex Johnny Depp in leaked audio recording

    (2/3/20) Amber Heard can be heard admitting to attacking her ex-husband Johnny Depp in a leaked recording from one of the couple’s therapy sessions.

    The former couple is locked in a bitter legal battle against one another, with Depp suing the Aquaman actress after she penned an article for The Washington Post, claiming she was a victim of domestic abuse and alluding to allegations she made against Depp in their explosive 2016 divorce.

    However, in the leaked audio conversation obtained by Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, the pair can be heard discussing their marital problems and the physical violence in their marriage, and when the Pirates of the Caribbean actor accused her of punching him, and she said she merely “hit” him.

    “I’m sorry that I didn’t, uh, uh, hit you across the face in a proper slap, but I was hitting you, it was not punching you. Babe, you’re not punched,” Amber can be heard saying. “I don’t know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you’re fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you.

    “You are such a baby. Grow the f— up Johnny,” Amber added. She also admitted to starting the fight.

    While Amber claims she was abused throughout their relationship, Johnny has maintained that he was the one on the receiving end, with his lawyer Adam Waldman telling Deadline: “For the avoidance of doubt, the only person in this case who beat a woman is the self-appointed #MeToo spokesperson Amber Heard, and she was arrested and incarcerated for it. And she savagely beat others, as will be shown at trial.”

    In November, the trial was given a six-month postponement by judicial officials at Fairfax County, Virginia, after Depp didn’t meet the Nov. 15 deadline to produce the relevant paperwork.

    The case continues.

    Johnny Depp producing musical about Michael Jackson

    (11/28/19) In an unusual “sequins” of events, Johnny Depp is producing an unauthorized musical about Michael Jackson told from the perspective of the King of Pop’s iconic glove.

    The wild show — “For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, as told by his Glove” by Julien Nitzberg — debuts Jan. 25 in LA. It’s described as a “look into the strange forces that shaped Michael and the scandals that bedeviled his reputation” as narrated by a talking, singing glove.

    Actors star with life-size puppets of the Jackson 5, Donny Osmond, Emmanuel Lewis, Corey Feldman and Bubbles the Chimp. Nitzberg first came up with the concept 17 years ago.

    “I’m known for writing a lot of biopics,” he said. “A major TV network wanted me to write a [Jackson] movie … but the question came up [about] how to deal with the child-abuse allegations.” When the network and Nitzberg disagreed, “I said, how’s this? Everything MJ has been accused of has actually been caused by his glove, which is actually an alien from outer space [and] feeds on virgin boy blood. They laughed and said, can you do the normal version?” But, “It was morally kind of repugnant to me to do … I turned down a really big paycheck.” He thought, “I’m going to go back to this … and do this as a musical.” But, “we just couldn’t get the financing.”

    Depp’s company Infinitum Nihil, headed by CEO Sam Sarkar, got involved after Nitzberg worked on developing a biopic on 1960s one-hit wonder Tiny Tim to star John Turturro.

    “It ended up never getting made, but I developed a very good relationship with them,” Nitzberg recalled. When he pitched other ideas, an exec asked, “What else are you working on?” The writer said of his Jacko satire, “I’m doing this theater piece you probably aren’t interested in.” It’s just the latest Jacko project in the wake of HBO’s “Leaving Neverland” documentary. A sanctioned musical, “MJ,” heads to Broadway next year.

    Johnny Depp Trial Delayed As Actor Late Delivering Drugs & Booze Records In $50M Suit With Amber Heard

    (11/28/19) Johnny Depp has settled two big bucks lawsuits with two sets of former attorneys in the past month, but it may be quite a while before things get resolved in the ex-Pirates of the Caribbean star’s $50 million defamation action against Amber Heard.

    Due to the apparent fact that Depp didn’t meet the November 15 deadline to produce all of the October court ordered records related to his drug and alcohol usage, judicial officials in Fairfax County, Virginia have granted a six-month postponement of the start of the jury trial between the once married Rum Diary co-stars. Instead of kicking off the three-week proceedings on February 3, 2020, the whole messy shebang will now commence on August 3 next year.

    Citing “good cause shown by both sides,” the regional calendar control judge on the eve of Thanksgiving agreed to the motion from the Aquaman star. It should be noted that Heard’s lawyers only wanted an additional 60 days not the approximately 180 days that they got in what already feels a bit like a never-ending endeavor.

    An endeavor that runs the risk of bumping up against the August 15, 2020 starting European tour of the Hollywood Vampires, the supergroup Depp formed a few years ago with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry. Those touring commitments that extend to the UK and Italy for next September could see Depp’s lawyers seek a shift in the trial start date themselves if math is any indication.

    Married to Depp for less than two years and exiting the relationship in 2016 amidst a media frenzy, restraining orders and a $7 million payout that was donated to charity, Heard was hot by the multimillion lawsuit filed by by her former husband in March in Virginia over a Washington Post op-ed she penned late last year about domestic abuse – an article that never mentioned the actor by name, though Depp says it sullied his name, he was the one actually abused and the op-ed cost him a role in Disney’s planned Pirates reboot.

    Now fighting to get the ex-business managers of Depp, who the litigious and excessive Hollywood Vampires guitarist sued for $25 million in 2017 before settling last year, to turn over what they know about the actor’s alleged antics, Heard has unsuccessfully tried to get the defamation case moved to California. Heard has also entered a motion to have the matter tossed out of court altogether but Fairfax County Chief Judge Bruce White hasn’t ruled on that yet. Oddly, for those of us who have followed this sordid case, the motion placed in the Virginia state docket by Heard’s team was a lot less damning than usual on Depp’s reluctance, for lack of a harsher expression, to hand over the court ordered files pertaining to his apparently substantial substance and liquor intake the past several years.

    “Despite the Court’s reasonable assumption, Mr. Depp did not produce all relevant medical records as ordered-instead, on November 15, 2019, he produced merely a handful of PDF files that appear to be email forwards he received from a single doctor, Dr. Kipper,” said the paperwork submitted on Monday. “Mr. Depp still has not produced any other records relating to his medical condition, despite the fact that there were clearly other doctors involved in his care.”

    “Because of Mr. Depp’s abject disregard of this Court’s discovery order dated October 18, 2019 (the “Discovery Order”), and other dilatory and obstructionist conduct, Ms. Heard has not received essential discovery to which she is clearly entitled,” the six-page document points out. “As a result, Ms. Heard cannot appropriately prepare expert witnesses and expert disclosures, cannot fully examine or impeach out-of-state witnesses who are not willing to voluntarily testify in Virginia, and cannot otherwise mount a fair defense within the relatively short time remaining prior to trial.”

    Representatives for Depp didn’t not reply to request for comment on the continuance and Heard’s lawyers had a terse no comment on their victory. However, earlier this week the Justice League actor’s main legal advocate had a lot to say on the current state of the case and why their side want everything pushed back.

    “By failing to produce: (1) his medical records and other documents ordered by the Virginia court; (2) documents his own U.K. counsel produced in his related case for defamation against The London Sun; (3) relevant documents produced in his litigation with his former manager; (4) a single relevant text or other communication with anyone on his staff; or (5) any substantiation for the $50 million in damages he seeks from Ms. Heard, Mr. Depp has made it clear that his strategy is to try to run out the clock during the holiday season so that Ms. Heard is unable to obtain critical evidence and testimony to corroborate her defenses to the baseless defamation suit he filed against her,” stated Roberta Kaplan on November 25 when the request for a trial delay was first filed in the home of Thomas Jefferson.

    “While Mr. Depp would like the trial to be a “he said/she said” contest of his own skills as an actor, Ms. Heard, who would prefer that the case be about the truth of what really happened, has asked the Court for a relatively brief two-month continuance to give her time to obtain the evidence that Mr. Depp has stubbornly resisted producing,” added the Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP partner, who joined Heard’s team early this summer.

    With the bulk of his once full legal dance card having shuffled off in the several months, Depp is still facing a May 11 2020 starting trial on allegations that Depp punched a location manager on the set of yet to released City of Lies – unless that’s settled soon-ish too.

    Johnny Depp Settles With The Attorneys He’d Hired For Jake Bloom Lawsuit

    (11/26/19) Just in time for the holidays, Johnny Depp today continued his ongoing quest to wrap up many of the legal troubles that have dogged him in recent years. Deadline confirms that the actor has reached a deal with the attorneys he’d hired for a $50 million malpractice suit that the Pirates of the Caribbean star launched in 2017. They said he owed them nearly $350,000 in unpaid legal fees.

    As Depp’s $50 million defamation showdown with Amber Heard looms, the actor has ended litigation with the Buckley LLP lawyers he’d retained in his malpractice court fight with Jake Bloom, the Bloom Hergott partner who had been Depp’s attorney for nearly two decades. Although details of that late-October settlement were not disclosed, Deadline hears that Depp’s payout was around $10 million in the end.

    Today’s settlement is with Buckley’s Fredrick Levin, Michael Rome and Ali Abugheida, who’d been suing Depp to recover the nearly $350,000 outstanding balance on his already 10%-discounted $535,697.28 bill. The trio had said back in May that their firm was promised the cash after having been kicked to the curb by Depp in January.

    In August 2018, the threesome had won a key legal battle in Depp’s tussle with Bloom. In a ruling that jolted Hollywood, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry Green granted the actor’s motion to declare invalid the oral deal he’d had with Bloom and his firm for almost 20 years.

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES Announce September 2020 U.K. Tour

    (11/25/19) American rock supergroup HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES will embark on a U.K. tour in September 2020. Rock and roll royalty Joe Perry, Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp and shock rock icon Alice Cooper will play four shows — in Leeds, Glasgow, London and Birmingham — in support of their critically acclaimed sophomore studio album, "Rise".

    The three legends first came together to record in 2015, bonding over a shared love of their favorite songs and a desire to celebrate their "dead, drunk friends" by playing the songs of the fallen heroes. Riotous performances ensued around the world.

    Says Cooper: "This show has something for everyone. I like to joke that the VAMPIRES are the world's most expensive bar band, but what a lot of people don't realize is that this is a real rock band, not just some novelty. I wouldn't keep doing it if it weren't such a great band. Everybody gets along, the musical chemistry is as good as it gets and the show will be the highest-energy hard rock shows you will see all year. I never get tired of playing with these guys!"

    Adds Perry: "I'm looking forward to be getting back on the road with the guys in the VAMPIRES this summer. It's going to be great to get to play a bunch of tunes from our new album as well as a few from our dead, drunk friends. The last tour we were firing on all cylinders and it's because of the great support from our fans that we really push the pedal to the floor. You can expect much of the same in September. We can't wait to get over and prove it."

    Joining HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES will be special guests PRIMAL SCREAM.

    Earlier this year, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES completed a triumphant seven-city North American tour which included a sell-out show at the famous Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and were voted the "best performance" of 2018 at London's Wembley Arena.

    The 16-track album "Rise", produced by Tommy Henriksen and the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, is one of the purest, most unapologetic and enjoyable rock and roll albums of the year, made by masters of the craft and true fans of the form. Unlike their 2015 debut record, the new album consists mainly of original material, written by the band. There are however, in the spirit of the VAMPIRES' original mission, three covers of songs originally written and recorded by legendary rockers who died far too young.

    U.K. tour dates:

    Sep. 02 - Leeds First Direct Arena
    Sep. 03 - Glasgow Hydro
    Sep. 05 - London O2 Arena
    Sep. 06 - Birmingham Arena

    Tickets go on general sale this Friday, November 29 at 10 a.m., with O2 Presale and SSE Rewards tickets on sale on Wednesday, November 27 at 10 a.m. A limited number of VIP packages will be available starting Wednesday, November 27. VIP packages may include a ticket in the first three rows, a personal photograph and meet-and-greet with the band and more.

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES Release Music Video For 'I Want My Now', Announce European Tour

    (11/18/19) (Video) HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES have released the official music video for the song "I Want My Now", taken from the band's second album, "Rise".

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES are built around the undeniable chemistry between rock and roll royalty Joe Perry, Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp and shock rock icon Alice Cooper.

    "Rise" was released on June 21 on earMUSIC as a CD digipak, 2LP+download and digital. The disc was produced by Tommy Henriksen and the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES.

    In other news, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES will tour Europe next summer in support of "Rise". The trek will take them throughout Germany, Austria, Poland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland and more.

    VIP packages and presales begin this Tuesday, November 19, with the general public on sale starting this Friday, November 22. VIP Packages can include meet-and-grret with Johnny, Joe and Alice, exclusive merch, reserved tickets, and more.

    Confirmed dates:

    Aug. 15 - Summer In the City - Citadel Mainz, Germany
    Aug. 16 - Stadtpark - Hamburg, Germany
    Aug. 18 - Legends Of Rock - Charlotta Valley, Poland
    Aug. 20 - Citadel Music Festival - Berlin, Germany
    Aug. 23 - Emsland Open Air - Lingen, Germany
    Aug. 25 - Konig-Pilsener Arena - Oberhausen, Germany
    Aug. 27 - Clam Castle - Klam, Austria
    Aug. 28 - Olympiahalle - Munich, Germany
    Aug. 29 - Riverside - Aarburg, Switzerland
    Sep. 08 - Rockhal - Luxembourg, Luxembourg
    Sep. 10 - Mediolanum Forum - Milan, Italy

    Unlike HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES' 2015 debut record, "Rise" consists mainly of original material, written by the band. There are however, in the spirit of the VAMPIRES' original mission, three covers of songs originally written and recorded by some fellow rockers who died far too young: an intimate and intense version of "Heroes"; the JIM CARROLL BAND's "People Who Died" and Johnny Thunders's "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory", sung by Perry.

    Completing the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES live lineup are rock star musician friends Glen Sobel (ALICE COOPER) on drums, Chris Wyse (THE CULT) on bass, and Buck Johnson (AEROSMITH) on keyboard and vocals.

    Amber Heard requests ex Johnny Depp submit to mental health evaluation

    (11/9/19) Amber Heard has officially requested ex-husband Johnny Depp submit to a mental health assessment, according to new court documents.

    Legal docs obtained by The Blast indicate the world’s third most beautiful woman is asking that a mental health professional be allowed to run an Independent Mental Evaluation — or IME — on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor. Heard believes Johnny’s alleged drug, alcohol and prescription med usage contributed to his alleged abuse.

    “Johnny’s relationship with reality oscillates, depending upon his interaction with alcohol and drugs,” reads the court doc. “As Johnny’s paranoia, delusions and aggression increased throughout our relationship, so has my awareness of his continued substance abuse.”

    Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit in Virginia last year after Heard – his wife for just over a year until they separated in May 2016 – penned a Washington Post op-ed about her experience as a victim of domestic violence. While Depp was not named in the piece, he insisted it was strongly inferred he was the perpetrator. Heard responded by detailing the “horrific” abuse she allegedly suffered at his hands.

    Johnny’s attorney responded to the IME request saying it makes no sense to run a test today when the couple’s past is what’s in question.

    “This is a defamation case in which Mr. Depp does not allege that he suffers from any mental disorder or condition,” his lawyer responded. “Thus, Mr. Depp’s mental condition is not ‘in controversy’ nor does good cause exist under the rule for an IME of Mr. Depp.

    “It is a preposterous notion that an IME now would shed light on Mr. Depp’s mental state at the time of Ms. Heard’s abuse hoax back in 2016. Ms. Heard’s effort treads a well-worn path of victim blaming using the pretext of mental health. By Ms. Heard’s tortured credibility logic, current IME’s would also be warranted for all the dozens of eyewitnesses who have attested to the various facets of the hoaxes they witnessed years ago.”

    Johnny Depp Settles $50M Malpractice Suit Against Ex-Lawyers

    (10/30/19) Just over a month before they were set to go to trial, Johnny Depp and his former lawyers have settled the $50 million malpractice suit the Pirates of the Caribbean star launched in 2017. This comes as a $50 million defamation suit between Depp and Amber Heard heats up on the West Coast.

    “The former law firm of Bloom Hergott, with the help of its insurance carrier, has favorably settled the litigation with Johnny Depp for a fraction of his original demand,” said Bryan Freedman today of the battle that was set for a December 2 trial start. “While the firm was confident it would prevail at trial, we are nonetheless pleased with this resolution as it expedites the firm’s winding down process and allows it to get off the endless Johnny Depp litigation train,” the attorney adds.

    The law firm formerly known as Bloom Hergott, sued by Johnny Depp for a multi-decade fraud and malfeasance spree, and after losing a landmark 6147 ruling, avoided the shame of evidence in a public trial by paying Mr Depp an eight-figure settlement.,” Adam Waldman, Depp’s primary attorney for the past two years told Deadline. “They are correct that 8 figures is a fraction of nine figures.”

    Though the exact terms are confidential, Depp’s payout was in the healthy tens of millions in the end, I hear. As the two sides were trying to work out a deal, depositions and discovery in the matter were continuing with all parties hedging their bets on whether a settlement could actually be reached in the matter before the long delayed trial kicked off.

    Hit with a counter-complaint in December 2017 by the firm that represented him for two decades after first suing them a couple of months before Depp scored a somewhat shocking win in the case on August 28 last year. On that date, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry Green sent a shockwave through Hollywood when he granted Depp’s motion to declare invalid the longtime and lucrative oral contingency agreement Depp had with Bloom’s firm.

    Heading towards a trial starting in February 2020, Depp’s ever revelatory multi-million dollar defamation suit against Heard has now spread to Los Angeles Superior Court from Virginia. In filings late Tuesday, the Aquaman star aims to get the former business managers of her litigious ex-husband to hand over documents that Heard’s legal team claim damningly peel back the skin on “payments on Mr. Depp’s behalf to conceal acts of violence,” “drug and alcohol abuse” and “Incidents of violence by Mr. Depp.”

    “TMG was Mr. Depp’s longstanding business management firm from 1999 until they parted ways in 2016 amid a bitter dispute,” the memorandum to enforce a discovery subpoena against The Management Group from Heard’s attorneys at L.A.’s Susman Godfrey LLP and NYC’s Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP understates. “Of particular relevance here, by its own account, TMG was aware that Mr. Depp had violently abused Ms. Heard and that he had pressured his employees to make false public statements denying this fact,” the filing for the Virginia-set defamation suit adds, noting the very messy $25 million fraud and breach of contract action that Depp slammed TMG with back in January 2017 and the extremely detailed cross-complaint that soon followed.

    “TMG also paid millions of dollars to various members of Mr. Depp’s staff, many of whom will be witnesses in the Underlying Lawsuit, as well as millions of dollars to ‘bail [Mr. Depp] out of numerous legal crises’ and ‘mak[e] a series of hush money settlements,'” Heard’s team states, quoting from the actual cross-complaint by the Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP represented TMG.

    Having been after TMG for the documents in question for almost two months, Heard’s latest West Coast legal reach comes as Fairfax County Chief Judge Bruce White ordered Depp on October 18 to deliver “relevant medical records” and other material related to his alcohol and drug use to his ex-wife’s defense team by November 15, 2019. Over six months after Depp first sued Heard in March over a December 2018 Washington Post op-ed addressing domestic violence and the backlash women often suffer, Depp’s team made a point of objecting to the order earlier this month, but agreed to comply – though not without throwing a few grenades at Heard and her lawyers with phrases like “abuse hoax.”

    “In short, the TMG Lawsuit, which was eventually dismissed in August 2018, involved allegations and evidence of Mr. Depp’s abuse of Ms. Heard, as well as information about individuals with knowledge of that abuse and Mr. Depp’s efforts to cover it up,” says the 19-page filing that essentially seeks to dispense Tinseltown-based TMG and lawyer Michael Kump’s basic notion that the requested documents are sealed under their own settlement with Depp and “would be burdensome for TMG to produce.”

    Reps for TMG and their lawyers did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment today on the new filing. With Depp’s ongoing legal

    The weak irony is that Depp’s side appear indifferent whether or not TMG release the information being requested. They don’t “have a dog in this fight”, according to Heard’s filing quoting one of the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s attorneys on an October 2 conference call.

    That apathy had evaporated today, at least in terms of the ever flaring battle between Depp and Heard since their short marriage blew up in public three years ago with a temporary restraining order against Depp and later a $7 million settlement, that Heard donated to charity.

    As this defamation suit moves towards its 2020 trial, Depp had dragged Heard and others like her ex-boyfriend Elon Musk into his two-year-old, $50 million malpractice lawsuit against his old lawyers at Bloom Hergott – a case that started as an offshoot of the dust-up with TMG and is now over.

    Johnny Depp Ordered To Release Booze & Drug Use Records In $50M Defamation Case Against Amber Heard

    (10/26/19) If the multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit that Johnny Depp launched against Amber Heard in the spring hasn’t gotten messy enough already, a new ruling could expose a lot of dirty laundry for the Crimes of Grindelwald star and his ex-wife.

    Late last week, a Virginia judge agreed with Heard’s attorneys that Depp needs to hand over “relevant medical records” and other material related to his alcohol and drug use. “By November 15, 2019, Plaintiff must produce all non-privileged, responsive documents requested by Defendant’s document requests,” Fairfax County Chief Judge Bruce White ordered on October 18 (read it here) of the motion filed by Heard’s team on September 13 in the $50 million action.

    “Mr. Depp cannot seek to litigate the truth of Ms. Heard’s allegations about his violent and abusive behavior while intoxicated, insist on proceeding without a protective order, and then blithely refuse to produce evidence that confirms the truth of those allegations on grounds of relevance and ‘privacy,’” declared Heard’s Virginia lawyer J. Benjamin Rottenborn last month in a memorandum that accompanied the now-successful motion to compel.

    Earlier in September, having lost an attempt to shift the matter to California, Heard also filed paperwork to have the whole matter dismissed. With Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund co-founder Roberta Kaplan now leading Heard’s legal team, that aspect of the case hasn’t been addressed by the court yet.

    Having said in a hearing last month that their client “has nothing to hide” about his past indulgences and actions under the influence, one of Depp’s lawyers Benjamin Chew noted his objection in writing on the October 18 order. However, taking the aggressive attitude that they have in other legal actions the Pirates of the Caribbean alum is engaged in, Team Depp also is saying they will comply with White’s order because it will unveil what really went down in the couple’s short marriage that unraveled in public a few years ago.

    “Amber Heard no longer feigns any effort to prove her abuse hoax,” primary Depp attorney Adam Waldman told Deadline in very stark terms, and the Endeavor Law Firm attorney rarely minces his words. “If she wanted to do that, she and her co-conspirators would stop running from their depositions.”

    Waldman doubled down: “Instead, Ms. Heard’s #TimesUp legal team have moved on to the tactics their former client Harvey Weinstein perfected – smear the victim with PR innuendo. For the avoidance of doubt, the only person in this case who beat a woman is the self-appointed #MeToo spokesperson Amber Heard, and she was arrested and incarcerated for it. And she savagely beat others, as will be shown at trial.”

    Even before he took Heard to court over her December 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence and the backlash women often suffer when they speak out about such situations, Depp was claiming that it was he was the one abused in the relationship. Though he is not actually mentioned by name, Depp and his lawyers have additionally said that the op-ed in the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper tarnished his good name and cost the actor a place in a planned Pirates reboot – a claim the franchise’s studio Disney never confirmed nor denied.

    This week Heard’s main lawyer Kaplan took a more measured reaction to the ruling releasing the desired records to her team, in a manner of speaking. “We are very pleased that the Court granted our motion to compel in full,” said Kaplan of the October 18 ruling in the Old Dominion.

    “Mr. Depp’s position on discovery in this case has been nonsensical, as if he were the one being sued,” the Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP founding partner with no small amount of snark. “But it is Mr. Depp who started this lawsuit on the theory that Ms. Heard somehow made up all the abuse that forced her to obtain a restraining order against Mr. Depp back in 2016.”

    “Now that the facts in his own lawsuit are making him uncomfortable, Mr. Depp wants to hide evidence commonly understood to be connected to incidents of domestic violence: his decades-long abuse of drugs and alcohol, his past history of violence, and medical records showing among other things the laundry list of prescription medications he takes daily and injuries from his drug-induced rages,” the NYC-based Kaplan continued thoroughly. “But that is not how litigation works. Mr. Depp started this fight. Ms. Heard intends to finish it by proving, if necessary, the truth of what really happened.”

    Point of fact, Kaplan did do legal work for the much accused Harvey Weinstein as Waldman says. However, the activist attorney was not connected to matters related to the dozens of accusations of sexual assault and harassment over the decades against the producer.

    Whether as prestige window dressing or not, Kaplan’s job was to deal with questions around money that Weinstein allegedly moved from a charity to one of his not so successful Broadway efforts – questions that federal prosecutors continue to probe as Weinstein awaits the start of a criminal trial that could see him behind bars for life.

    As this defamation case on the East Coast moves deeper into the discovery phase, Depp now has a lien being placed this week on his Golden State properties for over $347,000 by former lawyers who claim that the actor is avoiding paying them for scoring him a big win last year against another former set of lawyers. In that context, Depp also has two trials coming up on this side of the country. With Heard, Elon Musk and others facing depositions in the coming weeks, Depp has a December 2 trial start for his two-year-old, $50 million malpractice lawsuit against his old lawyers at Bloom Hergott.

    Looking unlikely to settle, that dust-up will soon be followed on May 11 2020 with a trial on allegations that Depp punched a location manager on the set of yet to released City of Lies.

    In his filed complaint of July last year, Gregg “Rocky” Brooks claims he was repeatedly hit by Depp “in the lower left side of his rib cage” after having to inform the actor that filming that night in L.A. was going to have to wrap late. The 10-claim suit, which also names director Brad Furman and producers Miriam Segal, Good Film Productions and Depp’s Infinitum Nihil, seeks damages for hostile work environment, retaliation, and wrongful termination among the claims.

    Triple threat or not, depending on how you look at these latest turns in Depp’s long legal road of the past revealing few years.

    Johnny Depp Trial Over Assault Of Location Manager Shoved To 2020; Amber Heard Taken Off Witness List

    (10/17/19) Johnny Depp will likely take the stand to answer allegations he punched a location manager on set. But it just won’t come next week, or even this year, after all.

    As the Pirates of the Caribbean star faces ongoing legal dust-ups with his ex-wife Amber Heard and his ex-law firm, on Wednesday a Los Angeles Superior Court judge gave Depp a little courthouse breathing room. Going over her schedule today before the assault trial set to start October 21, Judge Holly Fujie decided the three-day matter would be better dealt with next spring – May 11, 2020 to be exact.

    If his deposition of September 11 is any road map, Depp was prepared to testify October 22 that he did not hit City of Lies location manager Gregg “Rocky” Brooks in an altercation on the set of the Brad Furman-directed flick in April 2017 – a POV that Brooks clearly does not share.

    In his filed complaint of July last year, the location manager said he was repeatedly hit by Depp “in the lower left side of his rib cage” after being informed that filming that night was going to have to wrap late. The 10-claim suit, which also names Furman and producers Miriam Segal, Good Film Productions and Depp’s Infinitum Nihil, seeks damages for hostile work environment, retaliation, and wrongful termination among the claims.

    On that late-night downtown Los Angeles shoot on the film about the LAPD investigation into the still unsolved 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G, Depp says he stepped in to stop a “confrontation” between the “belligerent” veteran location manager and an elderly African American woman on set. In the redacted deposition, Depp also insists there was nothing even resembling violence, and later he and Brooks calmly had a drink and took a photo together (see right) as a peace pipe of sorts.

    “Absolutely not — no contact whatsoever,” Depp told lawyers from both sides in a sitdown at the Sunset Tower Hotel last month (read the deposition here). “There are dozens and dozens — I mean there are 40, 50, 60, 70 people around, and we’re on the street.”

    An early witness list for the three-day trial had Depp taking the stand for a total of six and a half hours – which he still may, next year. That’s unless the two sides reach a deal, an outcome one of Brooks’ attorneys say is unlikely.

    “I think what has happened to Mr. Depp in the last few years is to go for a scorched earth policy when it comes to his legal issues,” lawyer Pat Harris told Deadline today.

    “Then they created this whole story of this African-American women that Rocky was supposedly berating on the set [which] is untrue and absolutely defamatory,” Harris added, noting that his client was homeless himself for a while as a teen and partially raised by an African-American woman. “Depp can say whatever he wants, but to create this fabrication that goes to the heart of who Rocky is, it’s killing him.”

    In a town that protects its moneyshakers and big stars like Depp, Brooks has claimed he has found it hard to find work since the incident and filing of the suit.

    The early witness list for that suit also had Aquaman star Heard as a witness to be called by the plaintiff’s team. However, I’ve heard that that Heard (see that?) will now not be participating in the case at all. Married to Depp for less than two years, she is fighting a $50 million defamation suit filed by her former hubby in March in Virginia over a Washington Post op-ed she penned late last year about domestic abuse – an article that never mentioned the actor by name.

    Additionally in the courts on this side of the country, Depp has an early December trial start for his two-year-old, $50 million malpractice lawsuit against his old lawyers at Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP.

    That trial start was brought up by Depp’s lead lawyer Adam Waldman after the Brooks trial date was shifted.

    “Rocky Brooks’ opportunistic hoax persists despite overwhelming evidence ranging from the sworn testimony of the multiple eyewitnesses, time-stamped photographs taken by the script supervisor, and other unambiguous facts,” the Endeavor Law Firm attorney asserted. “Because Mr. Brooks’ hoax was granted a scheduling reprieve by the court, justice must unfortunately wait a little longer.”

    “Mr. Depp’s legal team will now focus all of its attention on the Bloom trial and the November depositions of Elon Musk, James Franco and Amber Heard, assuming that they will show up and testify,” Waldman noted of some of the big names drawn into the battle with the lawyers with deposition notices back in April.

    Already postponed several times before, the Bloom Hergott case is penciled in to begin in L.A. Superior Court on December 2.

    Johnny Depp Inks With Global Artist Management, CAA To Still Rep Actor On Film Side

    (6/12/19) Johnny Depp has joined the roster at Global Artist Management.

    Veteran artist manager Paul Geary, along with business partner Steve Wood, will handle all avenues of Depp’s career outside of film, which is currently handled by CAA.

    GAM’s other clients include multi-platinum rockers Godsmack, legendary Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, 3x Grammy nominated Hoobastank, and rock super group Hollywood Vampires (co-managed by Shep Gordon) which features Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and Alice Cooper.

    Hollywood Vampires is releasing their second album Rise on June 21st which features Depp on lead vocals on the recently released single “Heroes”, a cover the David Bowie track. The band recently completed a triumphant seven-city North American tour which included a sell-out show at the famous Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and were voted “best performance” of 2018 at London’s Wembley Arena. Depp is embarking on a PR tour with the Hollywood Vampires and will be performing “Heroes” with the band on Jimmy Kimmel Live on June 19.

    Depp signed with CAA in October 2016 after a three decade run at UTA.

    Depp counts $10.7 billion at the global box office, fueled by such franchises as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, and most recently the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

    Depp was nominated for three Best Actor Oscars for Sweeney Todd, Finding Neverland and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Depp has directed several shorts, music videos and features, including 1997’s The Brave which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. He is the star and producer of the upcoming Infinitum Nihil/Metalworks movie Minamata about War photographer W. Eugene Smith who travels back to Japan where he documents the devastating effect of mercury poisoning in coastal communities.

    Video Premiere: HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES' Cover Version Of DAVID BOWIE's 'Heroes'

    (6/8/19) HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES' Cover Version Of DAVID BOWIE's 'Heroes': Video.

    Johnny Depp’s $50M Malpractice Suit Against Ex-Lawyers Sees Trial Start Date Moved, Again

    (5/30/19) Johnny Depp and his former lawyers have another new trial date. Splitting the difference between what the parties desired, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge agreed Wednesday to move the start of the trial in the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s nearly two-year-old $50 million malpractice lawsuit against Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP to December 2.

    Led by Bryan Freedman, attorneys for the now retiring Jacob Bloom and crew recently advocated moving the already scheduled trial launch from September 16 to next March.

    Saying that he is obliged to “get cases resolved within two years,” Judge Terry Green made the call today on a packed morning in the DTLA courtroom, after having to deal with other matters while waiting for one of Depp’s lawyers to show up due to a medical emergency.

    Near the top of this morning’s hearing, Green first penciled in a trial kickoff date of November 4. However, in what is now the fourth or even fifth new trial date in the matter, the judge was persuaded by defense attorneys that they need more time because of the apparent reluctance on the part of Depp’s lawyers to hand over vital information in a timely fashion.

    The defense cited a need for more time because of the vast paperwork they say they have to delve into in discovery, much of it handed over in the past couple of weeks by Depp’s team, including 1.6 million new documents. In addition, Team Bloom wanted the move due to dozens of depositions, including from Depp himself, they say the multimillion-dollar matter requires them to conduct and examine.

    “It’s the ultimate chutzpah for them to show up and say we’re good,” defense attorney Kurt Peterson of Reed Smith told the court. “Our clients would like to get this behind them as well.” Freedman added: “There are new issues that have been brought to this case this month that never existed before …it’s not fair.”

    “They played this court and they played the system,” Peterson chimed in.

    “These are not new arguments,” Depp’s side responded with a synopsis of recent motions.

    “Nothing is going to be gained by hiding evidence,” Green declared, looking at Depp’s lawyer in front of him. “It’s going to come out.”

    With more weaves and wobbles than Captain Jack Sparrow walking the plank, this all started back in October 2017 as a spinoff of Depp’s now-settled $25 million lawsuit against TMG, his former business managers.

    Promptly hit with a counter-complaint in December 2017 by the firm that represented him for two decades, Depp scored a somewhat shocking win in the case on August 28 last year. On that date, Green sent a shockwave through Hollywood when he granted Depp’s motion to declare invalid the longtime and lucrative oral contingency agreement \Depp had with Bloom’s firm.

    The blast radius extended far beyond Judge Green’s courtroom as the deal Depp and Bloom had was an agreement many firms around town squared with clients -0 which meant those other lawyers had to hustle fast to get in writing with their clients in subsequent days. Last month, attorneys representing the now unfolding legendary Hollywood firm sent out a swath of deposition notices to the likes of former Warner Bros boss Kevin Tsujihara and Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard, whom Depp sued for $50 million for defamation in March. In what is becoming a coven of lawyers, Tinseltown heavyweight attorneys Marty Singer, Patricia Glaser and Blair Berk were also served, as were Heard’s and Depp’s respective divorce attorneys and the actress’ ex-boyfriend Elon Musk.

    As all this is going on, another set of ex-lawyers are taking the supposedly financially excessive Depp to court over unpaid fees, and the Oscar nominee just wrapped his last tour as guitarist for the Alice Cooper- and Joe Perry-led Hollywood Vampires, while his big-bucks battle with Aquaman star Heard continues.

    First filed in early March in Virginia state court, the increasingly explicit clash between the couple that divorced in 2016 finds Depp in the last few weeks claiming he was the victim of abuse during his marriage to Heard, not the other way around.

    Depp said an anti-domestic violence Washington Post op-ed penned by Heard late last year, which never mentioned the CAA-repped actor by name, hampered his ability to secure big-screen work, like a role in Disney’s planned Pirates reboot. In fact, the litigious Depp and his attorney Adam Waldman also proclaimed Heard’s well-covered claims of abuse at Depp’s hand were “an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”

    Aiming to see the whole matter either dismissed or moved to California, Heard in mid-April countered by filing detailed paperwork of numerous vicious incidents during the couple’s relationship. Married in early 2015, Heard and Depp permanently went their separate ways very publicly three years ago after the former had a temporary restraining order against the latter and they came to a $7 million settlement, which Heard donated to charity.

    “I have denied Ms. Heard’s allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016 when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week,” Depp said in a declaration before the Old Dominion court last week. “I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life.”

    “The evidence in this case is clear: Johnny Depp repeatedly beat Amber Heard,” said Heard’s lawyer Eric M. George in a statement May 21.

    Johnny Depp accuses Amber Heard of painting bruises on her body in deposition

    (5/20/19) Johnny Depp has accused his ex-wife of painting injuries on her body to make him look like an abuser.

    The Pirates of the Caribbean star filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard earlier this year, after she implied she was a domestic violence victim in a piece she wrote for The Washington Post in 2018, and now his deposition has been obtained by The Blast. In it he details and disputes numerous allegations the actress has made against him.

    “Ms. Heard’s fabricated domestic violence allegations against me are categorically and demonstrably false,” Depp said. He went on to suggest Amber completely fabricated her stories of abuse, going as far as to fake bruises in photos using makeup.

    “I have denied Ms. Heard’s allegations vehemently since she first made them in May, 2016, when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week,” he added. “I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life. I never abused Ms. Heard or any other woman.”

    Depp also included photos in the new court documents of several injuries he allegedly sustained from Heard during their rollercoaster relationship.

    Johnny and Amber were married for 15 months before she filed for divorce in 2016.

    Shortly after he filed for defamation, Amber submitted court documents detailing the multiple times she was an alleged victim of her ex-husband’s temper, claiming she hid in bathrooms and bedrooms to escape him and once had to protect her sister when Depp allegedly turned on her during a fight.

    He now states: “After years of asserting my innocence, I am finally in a position to prove it by dismantling each element of her hoax,” and insists, “Her lies are internally inconsistent, shifting, and directly contradicted by overwhelming sworn testimonial, photographic, audio, video, and other evidence.”

    In his latest court documents, Depp also claims Heard or “one of her friends” defecated in his bed “as some sort of a sick prank before they left for Coachella together” after a row.

    He concludes his lengthy deposition by stating: “Cynically relying on the concept of #believewomen that has been promoted as part of the important #metoo movement, Ms. Heard’s ‘evidence’ rests primarily on her word and that of her dependent friends. She and they have falsely accused me of violence, although interestingly none of her ‘witnesses’ say they ever witnessed any violence.

    “And they did this despite the inconvenient truth of my possession of eyewitness statements provided under penalty of perjury and photographs of her converse violence committed against me, overwhelming evidence that her various abuse claims and the injuries that she claimed ensued from them are hoaxes, the fact of her own prior arrest and incarceration for domestic violence against her previous wife, and new witnesses who are now coming forward to describe the brutal violence they suffered at her hands.”

    Amber Heard recounts horrific abuse at hands of ‘Monster’ Johnny Depp

    (4/11/19) “Violent” Johnny Depp became “the Monster” on drugs and booze, then beat, strangled and tormented his then-wife Amber Heard, she alleges in a new, harrowing court filing.

    Heard, who was married to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star for just over a year until she filed for divorce in May 2016, claims in horrific detail that Depp repeatedly hit her, ripped out her hair, choked and nearly suffocated her in a Virginia court filing in response to his $50 million defamation lawsuit against her.

    Depp’s lawsuit relates to a 2018 op-ed by Heard for the Washington Post where she describes being the victim of domestic abuse but does not mention him in the piece. His lawsuit claims she insinuates he was the abuser and that Heard’s allegations are a “hoax.”

    Heard, 32, has now responded by detailing numerous alleged incidents with Depp, 55, in papers exclusively obtained by The Post.

    Heard states that she began dating Depp in early 2012, “About a year into our relationship, I began to witness Johnny abusing drugs and alcohol … On some occasions, when Johnny simultaneously used both illegal narcotics and prescription medications I have had to get him medical attention. Whenever he was using, I worried for both of us. He would become a totally different person, often delusional and violent.

    “We called that version of Johnny, ‘the Monster’.

    “Johnny often would not remember his delusional and violent conduct after he came out of his drunk or medicated states. … Because I loved Johnny, I had believed his multiple promises that he could and would get better. I was wrong.”

    On the morning they boarded a private jet to fly from Boston to LA in May 2014, Heard states Depp appeared to be already drunk and was clutching a bottle of Champagne.

    “On the flight, Johnny ordered the flight attendants to give him an oxygen tank, and drank heavily. Johnny’s handlers told me that he was upset that I was filming a movie with a romantic scene with James Franco the day before. Soon, Johnny began to throw objects at me. Instead of reacting to his behavior, I simply moved seats. That didn’t stop him. He provocatively pushed a chair at me as I walked by, yelled at me, and taunted me by yelling out the name ‘James Franco.’

    “At some point, I stood up, and Johnny kicked me in the back, causing me to fall over. Johnny threw his boot at me while I was on the ground. Johnny continued to scream obscenities until he went into the plane bathroom and passed out locked in the bathroom for the remainder of the flight.”

    Depp allegedly apologized in a later text message, writing, “Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course, I am sorry. I really don’t know why or what happened. But I will never do it again.”

    His message continued, “My illness somehow crept up and grabbed me … I must get better . . . Again, I am so sorry, so sorry. … I love you and I feel so bad for letting you down.”

    Heard says Depp’s assistant Stephen Deuters also messaged her, saying Johnny “was appalled. When I told him he kicked you, he cried.” Deuters adds, “He’s a little lost boy. And needs all the help he can get.”

    The couple married in February 2015. Yet just a month into their marriage, Heard goes on to allege that, in March 2015, Depp — who was supposed to be clean at the time but didn’t believe taking ecstasy broke his sobriety — went on a three-day bender on MDMA/ecstasy in Australia.

    “Johnny told me that I had not explicitly forbidden him from taking ecstasy. The argument heated up, and Johnny pushed me, slapped me, and shoved me to the ground before I retreated to a locked bedroom.”

    The next morning, “I went downstairs to find that Johnny was still awake, and that he had stayed up all night, having taken about eight MDMA pills. He was also drinking again. We got into a fight that Johnny made physical, and I barricaded myself in one of the rooms. That didn’t stop Johnny from busting through the door of the room I was in.

    “By nightfall, Johnny had hit me multiple times, shoved and pushed me to the ground, choked me, and spit in my face.

    “Johnny then handed me a liquor bottle that he was drinking from, and asked me, ‘What are you going to do?’ I threw the bottle on the floor. Johnny responded by starting to throw cans and unopened glass bottles at me. . .

    “That night, Johnny shoved me into a ping pong table that collapsed underneath me. Johnny threw bottles through the window panels of a glass door, breaking two panes, and leaving glass everywhere. Johnny then grabbed me, gripping my body and nightgown. He tore the nightgown off, and at some point, I was naked and barefoot, covered in alcohol and glass.

    “Johnny grabbed me by my hair and choked me against the refrigerator in the kitchen. I tried to stand myself up but I was sliding around the glass-strewn floor and countertop. Johnny threw me away from him, and I tried to run away as Johnny continued to throw objects and alcohol at me.

    “In one of the most horrific and scariest moments of this three-day ordeal, Johnny grabbed me by the neck and collarbone and slammed me against the countertop. I struggled to stand up as he strangled me, but my arms and feet kept slipping and sliding on to the spilled alcohol and were dragged against the broken glass on the countertop and floor, which repeatedly slashed my feet and arms. Scared for my life, I told Johnny, ‘You are hurting me and cutting me.’ Johnny ignored me, continuing to hit me with the back of one closed hand, and slamming a hard plastic phone against a wall with his other until it was smashed into smithereens. While he was smashing the phone, Johnny severely injured his finger, cutting off the tip of it. . . . Once I was able to get away, I barricaded myself in an upstairs bedroom.

    “On the third day of Johnny staying awake without sleeping, I came downstairs to find numerous messages Johnny had written to me around the house, on the walls and on my clothes, written in a combination of oil paint and the blood from his broken and severed finger. Johnny also urinated all over the house.” Heard states that the actor was finally hospitalized, and Heard states she was left with “a busted lip, a swollen nose, and cuts all over my body . . . to this day, I still have scars on my arms and feet from this incident.”

    Heard describes how in March 2015 she punched an enraged Depp, fearing that he would push her younger sister Whitney down the stairs at his home in LA. She states, “He began to destroy personal property all over the house, including my belongings in my closet. . . . Johnny lunged to hit me, Whitney placed herself between us. Johnny turned his attention to Whitney, who was standing on the top of a flight of stairs, and moved on her. Acting in defense of my sister, as I was scared for her physical safety, I punched Johnny in the face to draw his attention away from her. That was the only time I ever hit Johnny.”

    She also includes a transcript from her divorce deposition: “He was about to push my sister down the stairs . . . I acted defensively [for] her life.”

    “The Monster” returned next during an August 2015 trip to Thailand and Malaysia, “While on the Eastern Oriental train, Johnny picked a fight with me, and started hitting and pushing me against a wall by grasping my throat and holding me there. I remember being afraid that Johnny might not know when to stop, and that he might kill me.”

    Depp allegedly spiraled further out of control in December 2015 at their LA apartment. “Johnny picked another fight with me. He threw another decanter at me, knocked items around the room, and punched the wall. He slapped me hard, grabbed me by my hair, and dragged me from a stairwell to the office to the living room to the kitchen to the bedroom and then to the guest room. In the process, he pulled large chunks of hair and scalp out of my head.

    “Hoping to avoid the violence, I tried to calm Johnny down, and then went upstairs to try to remove myself from the situation. Johnny followed me, hit me in the back of my head, grabbed me by my hair again, got in front of me on the steps, and then dragged me by my hair up the last few steps. At the top of stairs, Johnny shoved me twice, which made me fear I would fall. I told Johnny that he had broken my wrist in an attempt to get him to stop.

    “Johnny kept hitting me, and each time he knocked me down, I chose to react by simply standing up and looking him in the eye. Johnny responded by yelling, ‘Oh, you think you’re a f – – king tough guy?’

    “He reeled back and head-butted me in my face, bashing my nose, which immediately began bleeding, sending searing pain through my face. I instantly started tearing up, and I thought that I would have to go to the hospital. I told Johnny I wanted to leave him, and that I would call the police if he ever touched me again. When I began to walk away toward the guest apartment, he responded by pushing me, then grabbed me and pulled me from one room to the next, gripping me by my hair.

    “By the time Johnny had dragged me into the upstairs office, I told Johnny that I was leaving him, since I could not put up with his behavior any longer. Johnny reacted by grabbing me by my throat, pushing me down to the ground, and punching me in the back of my head. He grabbed me by my hair, slapping me in the face, and screaming at me something like, ’I f- – king will kill you — I’ll f – – king kill you, you hear me?’ There were chunks of my hair everywhere and indentations in the carpet where I was dragged.

    “The fight continued onto a bed. Johnny got on top of me with his knee on my back and the other foot on the bedframe, while repeatedly punching me in my head, and he screamed—as loudly as I’ve ever heard him scream— ‘I f – – king hate you’ over and over again. The bedframe splintered under the weight of the pressure of his boot. Johnny hit me with his closed fists, and I remember being unable to hear myself screaming because he had pushed my face into the mattress. I screamed as loudly as I could, hoping Johnny would realize he was severely hurting me.

    “For a while, I could not scream or breathe. I worried that Johnny was in a blacked-out state and unaware of the damage he was doing, and that he could actually kill me.

    “Broken glass and chunks of hair were strewn across the downstairs of the penthouse. . . . Johnny also had written a message on the countertop in our kitchen in gold sharpie that said, “Why be a fraud? All is such bullshit.”

    Heard resolved to leave Depp for good and filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order after he allegedly attacked her again in May 2016, first grabbing her phone, “he wound up like a baseball pitcher and threw the phone in my face, as hard as he could. I yelled, ‘You hit my face,’ and started to cry. . . . Johnny grabbed my hair and started to slap, shake and yank me around the room while I continued to scream.”

    Heard states that their neighbor heard her screams came into their apartment, threw herself in between them and begged Depp to stop, who was screaming at Heard, “Amber get the f – – k up.”

    Heard states, “Johnny smashed various objects around the house with a wine bottle as he left. . . .Johnny smashed more items in the hallway, spilled wine everywhere, and kicked a hole in a solid door.”

    He then allegedly demanded to be let into another apartment where Heard’s possessions were kept, “Johnny destroyed everything he could and chased [makeup artist] Liz Marz out of the penthouse carrying a wine bottle.”

    Heard adds that after reporting Depp’s abuse, and following their divorce in January 2017, some people have claimed she faked her injuries. “Many people called me a liar (without ever hearing my story). I was dropped from a global fashion brand’s upcoming campaign. I lost a part for a movie in which I had already been cast. People I have never met or spoken to threatened me with violence. I received so many death threats I had to change my phone number on a near-weekly basis.

    “People accused me of having abused Johnny. That simply is not true. I never attacked Johnny other than in self-defense (and in defense of my little sister). I have never physically abused anyone. I know what that does to people.”

    She adds, “Instead, I have attempted to promote good in the world and to advocate an end to domestic violence. I have sought to use my public persona to speak out on an issue that was extremely meaningful to me and millions of other women and men every year. I have spoken out about violence in public, but I have always avoided specifically referencing Johnny, or recounting his violence against me, not only because I wanted to move past that phase of my life but also because I was constrained by the terms of a strict confidentiality agreement that Johnny had insisted upon as part of our divorce settlement.”

    Heard’s attorney, Eric M. George could not immediately be reached for comment, but earlier said in a statement about Depp’s defamation lawsuit, “This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depp’s repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard. She will not be silenced. Mr. Depp’s actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behavior.

    “But while he appears hell-bent on achieving self destruction, we will prevail in defeating this groundless lawsuit and ending the continued vile harassment of my client by Mr. Depp and his legal team.”

    Depp’s reps didn’t immediately comment. In Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit, his lawyers said “Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016. They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”

    Heard’s op-ed’s “implication that Mr. Depp is a domestic abuser is categorically and demonstrably false,” his attorneys state, and the domestic abuse allegations cost him the role of Jack Sparrow in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.

    Johnny Depp’s $50M Suit Against Amber Heard Bleeds Into $30M Malpractice Case

    (3/9/19) Johnny Depp won’t be heading to court for a trial in his $30 million malpractice action against his ex-lawyers as soon as expected, but his recent $50 million defamation case against Amber Heard reared its head Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

    “If you want a two-month continuance, that’s fine,” said Judge Terry Green in an omnibus hearing on the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s nearly year-and-a-half-old legal skirmish with Jacob Bloom and his firm.

    A trial date has now been set for September 16, with a final status conference at the beginning of that month. The trial was originally set for May 6 in downtown L.A. in front of the loquacious Green. Noting his own packed schedule, the judge dismissively commented, “the motion to continue the trial never made it into our new e-filing system.” “You may want to take this to a discovery referee,” Green also told a courtroom filled with a phalanx of attorneys from Depp’s Brown Rudnick LLP team and Bryan Freedman of Freedman + Taitelman LLP and others representing Bloom and his firm. “It is really two bankers boxes full of stuff and that is difficult to say the least,” he added of the latest sets of filings in the convoluted matter that started back in October 2017 as a spinoff of Depp’s $25 million January 2017 suit against TMG, his former business managers.

    “We welcome a discovery referee right away,” Freedman said, again noting the defense’s need to see the actual settlement in the confidentially settled TMG case last year and the material that informed it.

    Today’s hearing comes a week after Depp hit his ex-wife Heard with a $50 million defamation suit that alleged the Aquaman actor’s claims of abuse during their short-lived marriage were a “hoax” intended to “advance her career.” An attorney for Heard called the Virginia filed suit a “frivolous action” that is the “latest of Johnny Depp’s repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard.”

    In that wide-ranging filing of last week, Depp also noted that Bloom advised him to go ahead with the $7 million divorce settlement with Heard back in 2016.

    “We learned that they are taking the position that that the advice from Jacob Bloom to settle the Amber Heard case was wrong advice,” noted Freedman to Judge Bloom, stressing the need for more depositions and documents. Refuting objections by Depp’s lawyers of the difficulty involved in getting such paperwork organized, Freedman also remarked that the attorneys for TMG are more than willing to turn the documents over in a second if given permission by the court

    How ever Green ultimately rules, that is now clearly a matter that Depp essentially wants to re-litigate the divorce in not so many words. To that end, he is pivoting off an op-ed that Heard wrote on sexual violence and abuse for the Washington Post in December 2018. That op-ed never actually mentions Johnny Depp by name, but its inference, according to the actor’s lawyers, is the reason why he hasn’t been asked by Disney to join the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot

    The document delay tactic that the defense is alleging and actually made up the bulk of the motions before the court today is similar what Depp employed in his now settled multi-million dollar dust-up with his ex-business managers.

    “We don’t even have the settlement agreement,” Bloom’s lawyer told the court Thursday, citing an enforced ignorance of the TMG case with over three million pages of documents from that matter and more not being handed over.

    As the two sides have argued over discovery in recent months in the malpractice suit, the actor did score a rare legal win in the case last August. Sending jolted lawyers scrambling to get their clients on speed dial all over town, Judge Green granted a motion last summer by Depp’s side to declare invalid the lucrative oral contingency agreement that actor had with Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP for almost 20 years.

    Since then, the remainder of the initially October 2017 filed case has been primarily behind closed doors with a barrage of filings on the docket as other legal matter occupied the actor’s time and the trial date gets closer and closer.

    However, after several penciled-in dates were scraped, Depp did sit for a deposition in the case late last year. Though talk of a settlement have been broached and the required insurance companies involved, it seems that the actor is once again seeking to keep the nearly year and half old matter in the courts without actually moving it forward – again, similar to the tactics used in the conflict with the former business managers.

    “If they think the information is important, some one is going to have to sit down and read it,” asserted Green to the assembled attorneys towards the end of today’s hearing. Cutting proceedings short, he promised a detailed ruling in the forthcoming days.

    Johnny Depp Goes After Amber Heard With $50M Defamation Suit; Actress Calls “Frivolous”

    (3/1/19) Johnny Depp has had a lot of legal run-ins the past few years, but this time it is distinctly personal.

    Almost three years after news of the breakdown of The Pirates of the Caribbean star’s marriage to Amber Heard hit the public record, Depp is now suing his ex-wife and Aquaman star for $50 million for defamation.

    “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” says the suit in reaction to an op-end the actress penned for The Washington Post in mid-December last year.

    “I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse,” Heard said in the “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change” entitled Post piece, which never actually mentioned Depp by name but clearly didn’t have to – at not for this lawsuit.

    “Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard, the compensatory damages and punitive damages seeking complaint from the actor goes on to say. “Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016,” it adds in reference to the claims that Heard made in the couple’s short-lived union. A marriage that ended with a temporary restraining order against Depp and later a $7 million settlement, that Heard donated to charity.

    Having long since denied the abuse allegations, the Hollywood Vampires guitarist clearly now thinks there was more going on.

    “They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career,” today’s lawsuit postulates of the allegations of Depp’s violent misconduct.

    “This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depp’s repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard,” the actress’ attorney Eric M. George told Deadline. “She will not be silenced.”

    “Mr. Depp’s actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behavior, the Browne George Ross LLP partner added. “But while he appears hell-bent on achieving self destruction, we will prevail in defeating this groundless lawsuit and ending the continued vile harassment of my client by Mr. Depp and his legal team.”

    Representatives for Depp did not respond to request for comment on the filing.

    However, if their past legal entanglements are any indication, expect the ambassador on women’s rights at the American Civil Liberties Union to not enter her own POV into the docket soon.

    This latest suit comes against the backdrop of Depp still battling it out on several other legal fronts. Despite a big win last summer, one of those battles include a $30 million malpractice action against the actor’s ex-attorneys at Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP.

    Johnny Depp fights to keep medical records private in bitter legal battle

    (2/18/19) Johnny Depp has demanded a judge stop his medical records from being given to his former lawyers as their bitter legal battle continues.

    The Pirates of the Caribbean star filed a complaint back in October 2017 claiming Jacob A. Bloom and partners at his law firm, Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman, LLP, committed “professional malpractice” while representing him.

    He also alleged they “improperly and negligently collected over $30 million in voidable contingent fees.”

    The law firm denied the allegations and counter-sued him, and now the legal battle is close to heading to trial as both parties have yet to reach an agreement.

    According the court documents obtained by The Blast, Depp, 55, recently filed a motion to quash a subpoena that his former lawyers fired off seeking documents from his ex business managers at The Management Group (TMG).

    The troubled actor says the subpoena is seeking production of more than 1.5 million documents from TMG, which contain “highly sensitive, confidential information,” including details of his finances and medical history.

    Lawyers for Depp explained that if the documents are turned over, it would “severely damage” his privacy.

    The case is ongoing.

    Johnny Depp disappears from 'The Invisible Man' reboot: Report

    (1/29/19) Johnny Depp is reportedly no longer attached to appear in the planned reboot of The Invisible Man.

    The Pirates of the Caribbean star initially boarded the Universal Studios project in 2016, signing on to revamp H.G. Wells’ classic tale of a chemist who embarks on a killing spree after using a dangerous drug that renders him invisible, but it appears Depp has since stepped down from the role of the crazed leading man, according to Variety.

    The news emerges as studio officials reveal they have tapped Insidious: Chapter 3 director Leigh Whannell to take charge of the monster remake, reuniting him with Blumhouse Productions boss Jason Blum, who also produced the filmmaker’s 2015 supernatural hit and 2018 thriller Upgrade.

    “Throughout cinematic history, Universal’s classic monsters have been reinvented through the prism of each new filmmaker who brought these characters to life,” said Peter Cramer, Universal’s president of production. “We are excited to take a more individualized approach for their return to screen, shepherded by creators who have stories they are passionate to tell with them.”

    Wells’ novel has been adapted for the screen numerous times since it was published in 1897, with the most famous film version released in 1933, starring Claude Rains as The Invisible Man.

    The reboot is intended to be part of the studio’s monster movies revamp series, which began with the 2017 release of The Mummy, featuring Tom Cruise as Nick Morton and Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll.

    However, the big-budget blockbuster fell flat with critics and was considered a box office bomb after projected losses were reported to be up to $95 million, despite grossing $410 million worldwide.

    Johnny Depp Files New Legal Docs Claiming Proof He Never Struck Amber Heard

    (1/22/19) (Update) 2:33 PM PT -- Depp's lawyer, Adam Waldman, tells TMZ, "The dozens of Eastern Columbia Building security camera video files we recently obtained, coupled with multiple newly obtained eyewitness affidavits and sworn depositions taken in 2016, leave no doubt that Amber Heard faked the abuse claims that underpin the Sun's defamation against Mr. Depp." Again, Heard maintains Depp struck her with a phone and his hands.

    Johnny Depp has just filed legal docs citing new evidence that he never beat then-wife Amber Heard ... a claim she made during their acrimonious divorce.

    Depp filed the docs in the U.K., where he's suing The Sun for defamation in connection with an article calling him "wife-beater." The article referenced an altercation between Depp and Heard on May 21, 2016 at their downtown L.A. home. Amber says he threw a phone at her face and then pummeled her and she took photos of her injuries.

    Depp's new documents include witness statements, saying they saw Amber in the apartment building on May 21 and saw no red marks or bruising on her face. One witness says she didn't see the mark until 6 days later.

    Amber also took photos of broken glass in the apartment, claiming Johnny hurled glass and shattered it in the unit. One of the witnesses states in his declaration, "There was no smashed glass that I noticed in the apartment at the time."

    Amber has adamantly stuck by her version of events, and Johnny has implied she injured herself after the fact and took pictures.

    He also cites in the documents 2 cops who responded on May 21 and gave 2 depositions stating they saw no injuries on Amber. The cops claim Amber said nothing had happened.

    The docs say there's security camera footage on the 4 days immediately following the alleged attack, showing Amber's face. Presumably, Depp's lawyer is saying the footage does not show any injuries.

    Again, the new filings were in connection with his defamation lawsuit against The Sun. Depp says "They must have made a positive decision to present a totally one-sided picture, leaving out my side of the story and pretending it either did not exist or was not worth considering."

    Johnny Depp buys couple on anniversary trip champagne and poses for photos

    (1/5/19) Johnny Depp helped a couple to celebrate their third wedding anniversary with a champagne toast aboard a Eurostar train returning to the U.K. from Paris.

    According to editors at The Sun, the Pirates of the Caribbean star drank champagne with electrician David King, 30, and his wife Roxanne, 27, who were on their way back from the City of Lights when the 55-year-old star joined them in the business class carriage.

    Depp, who was embroiled in a messy divorce from his former wife of less than two years, Aquaman star Amber Heard, after their split in 2016, told the couple he was returning from a visit to a Paris children’s hospital, and later toasted the pair with champagne, and posed for pictures with them.

    “We couldn’t believe it when he walked into the carriage with his security guard,” Roxanne told the newspaper. “We did a double take and David whispered to me ‘I think that’s Johnny Depp’ and I said ‘Yes, it is.’

    “We sat there for 20 minutes in silence then my husband went ‘Alright Johnny’ and the conversation started.”

    The Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald actor told the couple that he’d almost missed the train after leaving his passport behind, making it with just minutes to spare.

    And after they shared with him it was their first wedding anniversary, he insisted on buying them a celebratory bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne, and joined Roxanne and David for a drink with his bodyguard,

    “The two hours flew by and he talked about how he had been at a hospital in Paris and he asked about our daughter,” she continued. “Before he got off he signed our champagne bottle box and wished us a happy anniversary and a happy new year. He even gave me a hug and posed for pictures. It was a perfect end to the anniversary celebration.”

    Depp’s appearance comes after Disney confirmed he would not return in his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the forthcoming Pirates of the Caribbean reboot as the film studio plan to give the franchise “a kick in the pants.”

    Deadpool’s Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have been brought in to head up the writing team.

    Johnny Depp To Star As Photojournalist W. Eugene Smith In Thriller ‘Minamata’, HanWay To Launch Sales — AFM

    (10/23/18) Johnny Depp has been set to star as celebrated photographer W. Eugene Smith in movie Minamata, which HanWay Films will launch at the upcoming AFM.

    Andrew Levitas (Lullaby) will direct Minamata based on the book of the same name by Aileen Mioko Smith and Smith and adapted by David K. Kessler (A Hard Day’s Day). Shoot is due to begin in Japan followed by Serbia in January 2019.

    The film will follow the reclusive Smith after his celebrated exploits during the Second World War as he travels to Japan in the 1970s to fulfill a commission from Life editor Ralph Graves. Armed with only his trusted Nikon camera he goes there to document the Minamata disease scandal: an annihilation of a coastal community by the Chisso Corporation’s negligent mercury poisoning and local police and government cover-ups. The victims’ case against the corporation responsible for the environmental disaster represents one of the biggest payouts of all time, with present day sufferers of Minamata disease still in court seeking compensation.

    Minamata is developed by Depp’s production entity Infinitum Nihil and is produced by Sam Sarkar (No Place Like Home), Bill Johnson (Killing them Softly) and producer-director Levitas (Georgetown). Jason Forman and Stephen Deuters will executive produce. CAA Media Finance will handle U.S. rights.

    Heads of department include cinematographer Benoit Delhomme (The Theory Of Everything), production designer Tom Foden (Mirror Mirror) and Kevan Van Thompson (JoJo Rabbit) who line produces and will also be an executive producer.

    Levitas said, “Working with Johnny to give voice to those who have been silently suffering is a responsibility we do not take lightly. Much like Eugene Smith in 1971, we could not feel more privileged or humbled to be tasked with the mission of bringing this incredible story to the world.” According to the production, the team has spent time in Minamata meeting some of the victims and their families and the film will be made with their support.

    Depp and Levitas are both represented by CAA.

    Johnny Depp Forms Production Partnership With Andrea Iervolino, First Pic Will Be ‘Waiting For The Barbarians’

    (10/22/18) Johnny Depp and producer Andrea Iervolino (To The Bone) have formed a partnership to develop and produce film and digital content together. Depp will develop and produce through his Infinitum Nihil production banner and Iervolino will produce through his new blockchain platform TaTaTu.

    Their first joint project is the feature film adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s acclaimed novel Waiting For The Barbarians, starring Depp, Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson. Production begins later this month in Morocco and will be directed by in-demand Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra (Embrace Of The Serpent). Alongside TaTaTu, the movie is being produced by Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s AMBI Media Group, as well as Michael Fitzgerald (Three Burials) and Olga Segura (Veronica).

    The feature follows a British magistrate (Rylance) working in a small colonial town who begins to question his loyalty to the Empire. AMBI is handling sales and the project is not due to be one of the projects launching on the TaTaTu service.

    Launched six months ago, TaTaTu has a slate of project including the Lamborghini biopic starring Antonio Banderas and Alec Baldwin; a documentary on Jeremy Renner; and the drama The Sound Of Freedom set to star Jim Caviezel and Mira Sorvino. On the acquisitions front, the platform recently acquired documentary Friedkin Uncut.

    The AVOD platform, currently in beta stage, is due to incentivize subscribers by giving them digital tokens in exchange for watching content. The TTU Tokens, which trade on cryptocurrency exchange Liquid, will also be used to compensate content creators and pay for advertising on the platform.

    According to its founders, this summer the platform closed a $575M token pre-sale, from which proceeds are being used to create content, pick up new users, market the platform and develop the software. Among the first supporters of TTU Tokens, are Prince Felix of Luxembourg, cryptocurrency investment firms BlockTower Capital and Lvna Capital, and AMBI’s Monika Bacardi.

    Said Iervolino, “Johnny has the ability to conceptualize material in a way that few can, and is unburdened of conventional industry formulas that dictate the projects that get made, traditionally. As we make strides to embrace disruptiveness, Johnny will be a key collaborator with us and we are tremendously excited to back his visions and instincts on stories to bring to life.”

    Added Depp, “In this era of democratized entertainment, I admire the imaginative ethos of Andrea and look forward to collaborating together in a liberating, progressive manner that will befit the principals of our respective entities.”

    The actor will next be seen on the big screen in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which opens next month. He is repped by CAA.

    Johnny Depp: J.K. Rowling knows I was ‘falsely accused’ of abuse

    (10/12/18) J.K. Rowling‘s decision to cast Johnny Depp in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise was met with controversy after his ex-wife Amber Heard accused him of abuse, but the “Harry Potter” author always has stood by her decision.

    Now, Depp is breaking his silence on the role.

    “I’ll be honest with you, I felt bad for J.K. [Rowling] having to field all these various feelings from people out there. I felt bad that she had to take that,” the 55-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly. “But ultimately, there is real controversy. The fact remains I was falsely accused…”

    Depp, who plays villain Gellert Grindelwald in the fantasy franchise, claimed Rowling publicly supported him because she “knows” he was “falsely accused.”

    “J.K. has seen the evidence and therefore knows I was falsely accused, and that’s why she has publicly supported me,” he said. “She doesn’t take things lightly. She would not stand up if she didn’t know the truth. So that’s really it.”

    When production was announced on the film’s sequel, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” the film’s studio, Warner Bros., Rowling and director David Yates released statements regarding Depp’s inclusion.

    “Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies,” Rowling wrote at the time.

    Depp has vehemently denied Heard’s allegations, which included claims that Depp physically abused her while he was intoxicated.

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES To Headline ALICE COOPER's 'Christmas Pudding'

    (10/4/18) According to AZCentral.com, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES — the supergroup featuring international film star and musician Johnny Depp alongside Alice Cooper and AEROSMITH's Joe Perry — will headline the 17th annual Christmas Pudding concert on Saturday, December 8 at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.

    Proceeds benefit the free music, dance, arts and vocational programs for teens at Cooper's Rock Teen Center.

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES previously headlined Christmas Pudding in 2016.

    More guests will be announced soon.

    Tickets, which range from $120-$225, will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Monday, October 8.

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES is reportedly working on its second studio album for a 2019 release. The effort will be drastically different from the band's 2015 debut, which was comprised mostly of covers.

    During the 1970s in the upstairs bar of the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, the "Hollywood Vampires" were born. It was a gathering place where celebrated artists such as John Lennon, Keith Moon, Jim Morrison, Alice Cooper, Harry Nilsson and countless others would meet and drink into the early morning hours, and the club became legendary.

    Back in 2012, Cooper and Depp decided the time was right to revive the camaraderie and spirit that defined Hollywood Vampires" (minus the drinking), creating an environment for great artists to hang, laugh and play together. Cooper and Depp were joined by Perry, along with producer Bob Ezrin, and soon the recording began. The band's debut album, "Hollywood Vampires", was released in September 2015.

    Johnny Depp Says He'll ''Never Stop Fighting'' Against Amber Heard's Abuse Claims

    (10/2/18) Johnny Depp is still grappling with the events that unfolded during his relationship to Amber Heard.

    The alleged abuse, his loss of money and the drama that ensued in the year after his divorce seemingly continues to haunt the actor, as evident in a recent interview with GQ. He details his struggles with Heard and his former business managers in a candid, thoughtful manner, as he tries to detail his side of the story.

    In reference to his alleged attack on Heard in May 2016, he says, "She was at a party the next day. Her eye wasn't closed. She had her hair over her eye, but you could see the eye wasn't shut. Twenty-five feet away from her, how the f--k am I going to hit her? Which, by the way, is the last thing I would've done. I might look stupid, but I ain't f--king stupid."

    He claims that even police couldn't find a sign of abuse on her body, even though the leaked video of the alleged counter suggested otherwise to some. He says, "I mean, they spoke to the police, but the police saw nothing and they offered her an emergency medical technician. She said no. Police see nothing on her. Police see nothing broken in the place, no marks, and then they offer her an EMT to have a look at her and she says no and I don't know if it was the next day or a couple of days later, but then there was a bruise. There was a red mark and then there was a brown bruise."

    Depp acknowledges he has been physical towards the paparazzi, but to say he would hurt someone he loves "couldn't even sound like me." He never publicly addressed the supposed incident until now, because he felt it wasn't worth getting "into a pissing contest with someone about." However, he regrets the way it effected his children.

    Depp wonders aloud, "How could someone, anyone, come out with something like that against someone, when there's no truth to it whatsoever? I'm sure it wasn't easy for my 14-year-old boy to go to school, you know what I mean? With people going, ‘Hey, look at this magazine, man. What, your dad beats up chicks or something?' Why did he have to go through that? Why did my daughter have to go through that?"

    He then wonders what drove Heard to make these allegations, but also expresses worry about the way the public might perceive him. "We probably shouldn't be talking about this, but I am worried. I worry about the people that bought it and I worry about her. It's just not right," he explains.

    Depp continues, "I will never stop fighting. I'll never stop. They'd have to f--king shoot me. An episode like this takes time to get over. It's a mourning for someone you thought was..." He trails off in the interview, saying she was "something" to him, since he did "marry her somehow."

    The interview concludes with Depp proclaiming, "I want the truth. That's really my biggest obsession in the world. It's just the f--king truth."

    See the full feature in the November issue of British GQ, available on digital download on Wednesday 3rd October and on newsstands Thursday 4th October.

    Saban Films, DirecTV Land Johnny Depp-Starrer ‘Richard Says Goodbye’ For $3 Million: Toronto

    (9/11/18) Saban Films and DirecTV have closed a deal worth around $3 million for the North American rights to Richard Says Goodbye, the Wayne Roberts-directed drama that stars Johnny Depp, Zoey Deutch and Rosemarie DeWitt. The drama follows a college professor who lives his life with reckless abandon after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

    The film is eyeing a theatrical release in 2019. CAA Media Finance brokered it. Richard Says Goodbye was screened outside the festival for buyers at the Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas last Thursday and got several suitors.

    This is Saban Films’ third acquisition during TIFF – they acquired Romans starring Orlando Bloom and partnered with DirecTV on the North American rights to Sarah Daggar-Nickson’s A Vigilante, starring Olivia Wilde.

    Johnny Depp Wins In Oral Contract Battle With Ex-Lawyer; Hollywood Jolted

    (8/28/18) Lawyers for Johnny Depp and his former attorneys may be talking about a settlement in their $30 million malpractice suit but today in court the two sides locked horns and Hollywood got a potential legal mauling.

    “I appreciate that there are good people in show business,” said Judge Terry Green this morning as he granted a motion by the long litigating Pirates of the Caribbean star to declare the oral deal Depp had with Jacob Bloom and his firm for almost 20 years totally invalid.

    Perhaps more importantly, Judge Green looks to have thrown a spanner of sorts into the Tinseltown works where many a client and legal rep have such contingency agreements that have never been put in writing. “A lot of people are going to be on the phone today setting a sit down and a signing,” one prominent Hollywood attorney told Deadline of the implications of what happened in Judge Green’s courtroom this morning.

    “I don’t think there is special rules for show business,” the LA Superior Court judge added Tuesday before lawyers for both sides debating if the agreement was a contingency fee deal or not. “I don’t see an exception here,” the sometimes crusty and sometimes reminiscing Green noted, calling the arrangement between Depp and Bloom clearly “a contingency fee agreement.

    ”At some point we have to comply with the law,” the LASC judge declared, telling the lawyers that if they wanted things to be different they needed to talk to the legislators in Sacramento about changing the state law requiring such contracts be written down, not him.

    Needless to say, while still permitting elements of their December 2017 filed cross-complaint to move forward, to say that was not what Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP or their Reed Smith representatives wanted to hear.

    Having had their say in court to varying degrees, both lead Reed Smith lawyer Ray Cardozo and his team and Depp’s attorneys of Fredrick Levin and his Buckley Sandler colleagues exited the DTLA courtroom quickly and without comment on Tuesday. Just before moving on to other cases, Judge Green said he would issue a formal written ruling on the mater at some point, probably later this week. Depp’s Washington D.C.-based lawyer Adam Waldman curtly told Deadline that he thought “the Judge’s ruling speaks for itself.”

    However, with a trial still pencilled in for next spring in this case and Depp still facing a lawsuit from a lawsuit from some former bodyguards over owed pay and he is also looking at assault allegations by the location manager of the now stymied City of Lies, today’s ruling by Judge Green is a win for the actor.

    First filed last fall, Depp’s $30 million malpractice barrage against his longtime lawyers said that there had never been a “statutorily prescribed written contract” between the parties. Spreading the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald actor also claimed the much industry used firm had been working with The Management Group against his best interests and expressed economic desires.

    “Cross-Defendants completely fail to discuss ratification in their motion. Indeed, the word ‘ratification’ is nowhere to be found in their memorandum,” said Reed Smith for the Bloom participants in an August 2 opposition response to Depp’s efforts to halt their breach of contract countersuit. “Cross-Defendants have therefore waived this issue and Bloom Hergott’s pleading should be accepted as true and the contract claim allowed to proceed,” the filing added. “Furthermore, if an amended pleading is required, Bloom Hergott can provide additional allegations about Cross-Defendants’ ratification of the agreement.”

    Depp and TMG came to a confidential settlement on their $25 million dustup last month.

    As for the rest of this case, it is very likely, that Bloom’s Reed Smith lawyers will fight the motion and perhaps take it to a higher court, I hear. Otherwise, the parties continue to talk settlement on the side, as Deadline reported last week, and are headed for mediation with a retired judge.

    “I know who the plaintiff is,” the show biz family spawned Judge Green told the court of Depp today. “I can’t tell you a whole lot about him, except he’s had ups and downs in life,” he added almost ironically of the actor who has seen his personal life and apparent financial excess unveiled for all to see of late. “Who would have known, 18-years ago, how high the highs are and how low the lows.”

    So, the ground has shaken but the pillars of the arena in which this legal battle is being waged are still standing – for now.

    Johnny Depp In Settlement Talks To End $30M Malpractice Suit With Ex-Lawyers

    (8/24/18) Having reached a deal last month in his $25 million legal sword fight with his former business managers, Johnny Depp is also looking to bring a related $30 million ruckus with his ex-lawyers to an end.

    With a jury trial penciled in to start May 6 next year, the seemingly near-cash-strapped The Pirates of the Caribbean star’s reps and attorneys for Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP are now engaged in serious settlement talks, I’ve learned.

    At this stage, nothing is signed or sealed, and it is not even certain whether the battle-scarred parties will have an agreement before their scheduled August 28 motion hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court. However, with the timeline still somewhat fluid and that downtown L.A. gathering looming, I hear that there is an impetus among the principals to bring to a halt the big-bucks malpractice complaint, filed initially in October 2017 and resulting in a December 2017 countersuit from Martin Scorsese attorney Jacob Bloom and his partners.

    The resolution would be welcoming news to Warner Bros, home of the November 16-releasing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, among others.

    Similar to the recent end of Depp’s January 2017-commencing showdown with The Management Group, the actor settling things with his formerly trusted lawyer of two decades immediately eases worries that the Burbank-based studio may have of bitter litigation distracting from Grindelwald. Having rolled out a focused Depp as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald at Comic-Con last month, Warners haas made no secret of how high its expectations and P&A are for the pic.

    Witnessing the ultimately contained backlash to Depp’s casting in tje Fantastic Beasts franchise to begin with as claims of domestic abuse in his now-ended marriage to Amber Heard splayed across the trades and tabloids, Warner Bros had to recognize it might have a problem on its hands with future lawsuits the actor might become involved in. Even a slither of the revelations of Depp’s financial excess and other dirty laundry that the bust-up with TMG put in the public docket, not to mention that June Rolling Stone profile the actor disastrously agreed to, would certainly overshadow the Eddie Redmayne-led follow-up to 2016’s successful Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

    Neither Bloom’s Reed Smith lawyers nor Depp’s team led by The Endeavor Law Firm’s Adam Waldman responded to request for comment on the case or the status of settlement talks.

    Publicly, the parties are in the weeds fighting over whether Bloom’s firm was entitled to the lucrative slice of Depp’s fees for films and more that they have been collecting under a contingency agreement. The Oscar-nominated actor says no because all they’ve had since 1999 is a handshake deal. The lawyers for the lawyers say yes because, among other objections, Depp never suggested he felt otherwise over the years, even from January 2017 to October 2017 when he had sued TMG but before he went after Bloom.

    First filed last fall, Depp’s $30 million malpractice barrage against his longtime lawyers said that there had never been a “statutorily prescribed written contract” between the parties. Spreading his tangled net wide, the actor also claimed the venerated law firm had been working with The Management Group against his best interests and expressed economic desires.

    “Cross-Defendants completely fail to discuss ratification in their motion. Indeed, the word ‘ratification’ is nowhere to be found in their memorandum,” said Reed Smith for the Bloom participants in an August 2 opposition response to Depp’s efforts to crash their breach of contract countersuit. “Cross-Defendants have therefore waived this issue and Bloom Hergott’s pleading should be accepted as true and the contract claim allowed to proceed,” the filing added. “Furthermore, if an amended pleading is required, Bloom Hergott can provide additional allegations about Cross-Defendants’ ratification of the agreement.”

    At this point, even as this case looks to be heading towards a settlement, Depp isn’t out of the legal woods at all. Battered with a lawsuit from former bodyguards over owed pay, Depp is also looking at assault allegations by the location manager of the now stymied City of Lies. In the latter case, Depp said in an August 15 filing that plaintiff Gregg “Rocky” Brooks “provoked” the situation, and the actor responded in “self-defense/defense of others.”

    “The acts complained of by Plaintiff were provoked by Plaintiff’s unlawful and wrongful conduct in that Plaintiff willfully and maliciously acted out and conducted his activities in such a manner as to cause, Defendant Depp to fear for his safety, and according to Defendant Depp’s observations, Defendant Brad Furman for his safety,” the filing in Los Angeles Superior court said of the film;s star and director.

    So, even if one more is down, there are more lawsuits to go for Depp – for now.

    Johnny Depp 'feared for his safety' during movie set assault

    (8/20/18) Johnny Depp has asked a judge to dismiss an assault lawsuit against him, insisting he acted in self defence.

    The Pirates of the Caribbean star was sued last month by location manager Gregg Brooks, who accused the actor of assault and battery on the set of City of Lies in April, 2017.

    Brooks claimed Depp lashed out at him after revealing a night shoot was running late. Director Brad Furman and producers Miriam Segal, Good Film Productions and Depp’s Infinitum Nihil have also been named as defendants. Brooks is seeking damages for a hostile work environment and wrongful termination.

    However, according to The Blast, the 55-year-old is now claiming he “feared for his safety” during the alleged incident. He also claims Furman’s safety was in question and he acted in his own defence and the “defence of others.”

    Depp wants the lawsuit dismissed.

    Johnny Depp’s ‘City Of Lies’ Movie Pulled From Release Schedule

    (8/6/18) City of Lies, the Brad Furman-directed crime thriller starring Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker and based on the true story behind the investigation into the murder of rap star Notorious B.I.G., has been pulled off its September 7 release date.

    Global Road, which acquired the movie’s original distributor Open Road last summer, has not set a new date for the pic, we’re told. It was set to hit screens on what would have been the 46th birthday of the iconic rapper, aka Biggie Smalls, who was gunned down in 1997 in a drive-by in Los Angeles.

    The news comes less than month after the film’s location manager sued Depp, accusing the actor of assault and battery on the set in April 2017. Gregg “Rocky” Brooks said he was repeatedly hit by Depp after being informed that filming that night in downtown L.A. was going to have to wrap late. The 10-claim suit, which also names Furman and producers Miriam Segal, Good Film Productions and Depp’s Infinitum Nihil, seeks damages for hostile work environment, retaliation, and wrongful termination among the claims.

    The July 9-filed lawsuit has become more focused in recent days. Last week, Segal and her Good Film were dropped by Brooks as defendants. We hear the move was not the result of a settlement, but rather discussions between the lawyers for the parties.

    In City of Lies, Depp plays LAPD detective Russell Poole, and Whitaker is the journalist looking into the unsolved murder, which came six months after the death of Smalls’ rap rival Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas.

    Global Road dropped a trailer for the pic, formerly titled LAbyrinth, in May.

    Johnny Depp might play Matthew Mellon in potential biopic

    (7/23/18) Late banking heir Matthew Mellon’s story could be coming to the big screen, sources exclusively tell Page Six. But apparently the family of the hard-partying cryptocurrency billionaire is divided over the project.

    “There is a screenplay being shopped,” a friend said of the planned biopic on Mellon — who infamously battled addiction after graduating from Wharton and coming into trusts worth $25 million at age 21 as a scion of the Mellon and Drexel dynasties.

    Mellon married Jimmy Choo mogul Tamara Mellon in 2000 after the pair met at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. After they split, he married and divorced fashion designer Nicole Hanley.

    By 2016, Mellon was in treatment for a $100,000-per-month OxyContin habit. But he managed a comeback by reinventing himself as a flashy bitcoin billionaire, complete with a $150,000-a-month Hollywood Hills home and an “armored car that resembled a tank,” according to Forbes, which named him to its Richest People in Cryptocurrency list.

    In April, Page Six exclusively reported Mellon died suddenly in Cancun on his way to rehab.

    Said one source of the film project: “This may be fulfilling a dream of Matthew’s. He would have loved this idea .?.?. He used to say, ‘How cool would it be to have a movie about my crazy life?’?”

    The source said that while Mellon — whose social circle included Paris and Nicky Hilton and Lindsay Lohan — was alive, he was pitched to star in a cable reality series and was interested, but that some in his family weren’t keen on the exposure. We hear he also wanted to create content with hip brand VFiles.

    While some close to Mellon are backing the new movie concept, a source said that others “are horrified by the idea .?.?. The last thing they want is the Mellon legacy portrayed on-screen.”

    A source said that there’s even been buzz the film’s gotten interest from Johnny Depp — though that may be just wishful thinking: A source close to the movie star said he’d never heard of it. Reps did not get back to us.

    ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald’ Trailer Returns To Hogwarts; Johnny Depp Casts A Spell On Audience – Comic-Con

    (7/22/18) (Video) The Warner Bros panel kicked off a day of programming in Hall H during San Diego Comic-Con with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — featuring a new trailer and a surprise guest.

    With a 360-degree video presentation and Eddie Redmayne casting a “lumos” spell on the wildly excited audience, he was joined on the stage by the Grindelwald crew including Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz, Jude Law, Claudia Kim, and Callum Turner. The cast talked to moderator Aisha Tyler about making the highly anticipated sequel before showcasing a new trailer that revisits Hogwarts and reintroduces us to Nicolas Flamel — which fans went crazy for.

    The panel was then interrupted when Johnny Depp, in character as Grindelwald gave a Shakespearian monologue about his crimes and said: “We who live for freedom or truth the moment has come to rise up and take our rightful place in the world.”

    It was quite haunting….and interesting as there was a loud shush over the audience.

    During the panel, the cast was asked if they could use magic for good what would they do.

    Kravitz immediately chimed in and said, “Impeach Trump.” While Miller said, “Topple the patriarchy!”

    These wizards are definitely looking to use their magic to fight a different kind of evil.

    At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Scamander. But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.

    In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Dumbledore enlists his former student Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

    David Yates is helming again, from a screenplay by JK Rowling, and produced by David Heyman, Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram.

    The film is set to open in theaters November 16.

    Johnny Depp & Ex-Biz Managers Settle $25M Fraud Suit A Month Before Trial

    (7/16/18) Johnny Depp and his former business managers will not be kicking off a potential messy and revealing trial over the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald star’s long held fraud claims of $25 million next month after all.

    After a long weekend in which attorneys for both Depp and The Management Group went hard, the parries reached a confidential settlement, I hear. While no one is talking, both sides in what has been a sometimes bitter and revelatory legal knife fight are happy with the deal, Deadline has learned.

    Prodded by an LA judge and overseen by a retired one, the managed mediation between Depp’s lawyer and TMG’s Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP reps comes after the actor’s primary attorney Ben Chew of Washington D.C’s Brown Rudick failed late last month to get the August 15 starting trial pushed back. Rare for a plaintiff to seek a delay in a trial that they requested, the unusual hearing came on the heels of a long Rolling Stone profile of the Depp that pretty much everyone agrees was not a winner for the actor. Another factor in the agreement hammered out over talks on Saturday and Sunday was Depp finally sitting down for a frequently postponed deposition in the matter back in May in L.A.

    Now, with the deal sealed, all that’s old news and all that is left is the formalities.

    Which means, if things go as they usually do in these things, that in the next couple of weeks, dismissal filings are likely to pop up in L.A. Superior Court dropping Depp’s initial action of January 2017 and the commission seeking counter cross-complaint that soon followed. The November 2017 action for judicial foreclosure against several of the actor’s City of Angels properties by TMG over a $5 million loan that they said that made to him will also be closed.

    Following the submission of that paperwork, the settlement agreement is expected to be approved before the August 15 trial start date, which is basically a moot note on the calendar at this point. A fact that will make Warner Bros very happy as sources say that the studio was not looking forward to a public hearing of The Crimes of Grindelwald’s marketing campaign and opening this fall of the latest installment in this JK Rowling’s franchise being flooded by headlines of Depp’s allegedly excessive spending habits and dwindling financial resources.

    While the bloodletting between the actor and TMG is now over, the settlement in that matter does not however end the other litigation tidal waves that the Pirates of the Caribbean star is wading through. Depp still has to contend with a lawsuit from his ex-bodyguards who claim drug abuse and owed pay as well as a countersuit from his former longtime attorneyJacob Bloom and his. Claiming co-hoots with TMG, the actor went after Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP for $30 million last fall. They went right back after him a couple of months later as the actor seemed for a while to be shedding lawyers at an alarming rate

    In addition, Depp’s legal dance card was hit last week with an assault and battery lawsuit from the location manager of the upcoming City of Lies.

    So, let’s call it, one down, a lot more to go when it comes to Johnny Depp and the courts right now.

    In terms of the now dimmed fraud lawsuit that started all this back in early 2017, contacted by Deadline, representatives for TMG had no comment on the outcome of the Saturday and Sunday sit-down. Representatives for Depp did not respond to request for comment on the matter.

    'Who the f--- are you?' Johnny Depp sued over alleged movie set attack

    (7/10/18) Johnny Depp is reportedly facing a lawsuit for allegedly assaulting a crewmember on the set of his upcoming film City Of Lies.

    Location manager Gregg ‘Rocky’ Brooks claims the Pirates of the Caribbean star became violent after he informed the actor that he only had one more chance to shoot a scene in Los Angeles in April, 2017.

    According to TMZ, Depp screamed at him, saying, “Who the f— are you? You have no right to tell me what to do.”

    He then reportedly punched Brooks in the ribs twice, before yelling, “I will give you $100,000 to punch me in the face right now.”

    Bodyguards for the 55-year-old, who Brooks claims appeared to be drunk during his tirade, subsequently removed him from the set of the biographical crime thriller, which is based on the murder investigations of rap icons Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.

    The crewmember is now suing for unspecified damages.

    It has been a tough few years for Depp who, in 2017, sued ex-managers Joel and Robert Mandel at The Management Group (TMG) for $25 million, alleging fraud and negligence, claiming they mishandled his finances and caused him to rack up more than $40 million in debt. They responded with their own countersuit, claiming he was to blame because his spending was out of control.

    Depp opened up about his dire financial situation in a candid interview with Rolling Stone magazine last month, revealing he fell into a deep depression in 2016 as his money issues worsened, all while fighting allegations of domestic abuse during his bitter divorce from his The Rum Diary co-star Amber Heard.

    “I was as low as I believe I could have gotten,” he said. “The next step was, ‘You’re going to arrive somewhere with your eyes open and you’re going to leave there with your eyes closed.’ I couldn’t take the pain every day.”

    Johnny Depp's son Jack has 'serious health problems'

    (6/27/18) Johnny Depp’s 16-year-old son is seriously ill.

    John Christopher Depp III, who goes by Jack, is one of the younger of two children the Pirates of the Caribbean star has with his ex Vanessa Paradis.

    Paradis reportedly missed her latest film’s opening to be with him, as PEOPLE has reported.

    The French actress didn’t attend the Paris premiere of her movie A Knife in the Heart on Tuesday and director Yann Gonzalez shocked the crowd when he announced Jack’s illness.

    “Unfortunately, Vanessa Paradis was not able to join us tonight, she had to be absent because of her son’s serious health problems,” the film’s director said at the screening, according to the French publication called Public.

    Although Depp, 55, and Paradis, 45, never wed, they were together from 1998 to 2012. The star who played Captain Jack Sparrow went on to marry actress Amber Heard but they had a bitter divorce.

    Depp has recently caused shock with his gaunt and frail appearance while in Europe touring with his band The Hollywood Vampires.

    Depp looked deathly pale outside a Berlin hotel earlier this month.

    He has said about having kids with Paradis, “Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny. All the math finally worked.”

    It isn’t the first time one of Depp’s children has had a health crisis. In 2007, his older child Lily-Rose was hospitalized at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London due to a serious Escherichia coli infection, which resulted in temporary kidney failure.

    Depp has described his girl’s illness as a “dark period,” but she fully recovered.

    Johnny Depp Loses Bid To Delay $25M Fraud Trial On Heels Of Train Wreck Rolling Stone Profile

    (6/23/18) Warner Bros escaped a potential Fantastic Beasts sequel PR nightmare today as Johnny Depp was soundly denied an attempt to push back the trial over his $25 million fraud suit against his former business managers.

    The rejection this morning by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge for the Pirates of the Caribbean star comes just after a lengthy profile in Rolling Stone that was far more train wreck that testimonial for the lately much sued Depp. What is perhaps equally unusual is that this is Depp’s lawsuit. In a role much more commonly assumed by defendants, the plaintiff actor was trying to delay the suit that he instigated. It was a pose that Depp repeatedly also tried with the deposition he finally gave to lawyers at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP in late May.

    Having flown in from Washington D.C., Depp’s primary lawyer Benjamin Chew sought to have the August 15 scheduled jury proceedings shoved another 60 days, which would have been until the middle of October. If the ex parte application had been successful, it could have had the unanticipated consequence of throwing rotten egg on the now AT&T owned WB, the studio as Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald set to come out in November.

    Already forced to weather more than a little controversary over plaintiff Depp’s significant participation in the JK Rowling penned franchise and now under new bosses, the last thing WB would have wanted was the possible waft of Depp’s dirty laundry, financial and otherwise, to come out during their peak press period for the tentpole.

    Fortunately for the studio, who had nothing to do with today’s actions, the Honorable Teresa Beaudet wanted to stick to the schedule and get things dealt with sooner rather than later. “The ex parte application is denied at this time,” the LASC Judge wrote in longhand on the proposed order Friday. “The parties are to work with the discovery referee to create a schedule to complete the discovery prior to the FSC (final status conference),” she added.

    “The parties have agreed to and scheduled a mediation on July 14, 2018 before the Honorable Peter Lichtman (Ret.) of JAMS,” noted Chew in the unsuccessful application with the court today. “That date was the first available date that the parties and Judge Lichtman could conduct a mediation,” the now with DC’s Brown Rudick, after previous repping Depp at heavyweights Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, Chew said additionally.”In light of the close proximity of that mediation date to the August 15th trial date and the related pre-trial filing dates which back up from the August 3, 2018 Final Status Conference, without a trial continuance the parties will effectively had been required to complete virtually all of their discovery and trial preparation prior to attending the mediation. A brief trial continuance would enable the parties to some extent to conserve the resources which would otherwise be devoted to completing discovery and trial preparation to be used for settlement purposes at the mediation.”

    Not so much, retorted the other side.

    “Although the parties have scheduled a private mediation for July 14, 2018—the first available date because of Depp’s current rock n’ roll tour—continuing the trial date prior to the mediation would be counter-productive,” countered Team TMG. “There is no reason to assume that the action will settle at the mediation, and continuing the trial date will only decrease the odds of settlement,” the defense lawyers declared.”The discovery grounds upon which the Depp Parties seek a trial continuance are the result of their own gamesmanship, delay and lack of diligence.”

    Now battling ex-bodyguards who claim drug abuse and owed pay and a countersuit from his former longtime attorney too, Depp first sued The Management Group back in January 2017.

    At the time and since, the actor alleged that despite making hundreds of millions of dollars he was feeling the financial pinch because of having been swindled in the Hollywood accounting shell game by those trusted and the much respected TMG.

    The Management Group swung back with a countersuit of their own on the last day of the first month of 2017 over unpaid commissions and tales of excess and irresponsibility, to put it very mildly, that proclaimed that the up tp $20 million a picture plus a share of profits actor’s spending habits were the real cause of his apparently emptying bank accounts. Among the various residences, dozens of vehicles, tens of thousands a month on wine, guitar collection, artwork, hangers-on, sibling provisions, security, acting assistants and other indulgences, TMG’s reaction revealed that the Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas star paid out $3 million to have Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes shoot out of a cannon in 2005 and forks out more $2-million in monthly expenses.

    Doing himself few favors as custodian of his own funds, Depp bragged to Rolling Stone that the cost for the tribute to Thompson was actually closer to $5 million and that he blew a lot more than $30,000 a month on wine.

    Late last year, before Depp started shedding lawyers faster than Jack Sparrow does goodwill, TMG add another lawsuit to the pyre. “Depp listened to no one, including TMG and his other advisors, and he demanded they fund a lifestyle that was extravagant and extreme,” the business managers stated in foreclosure filings against the actor for a $5 million loan TMG said they made to him to bail him out a few years back.

    As the summer trial seems certain to occur, Depp himself was not in court today. Playing a set tonight at the Hellfest in Clisson, France, the guitar strumming actor is on a summer tour with Alice Cooper, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and other members of the Hollywood Vampires band – livin’ the dream, for now.

    Johnny Depp admits reaching new ‘low’ during booze bender

    (6/22/18) Johnny Depp entered into a depression over his divorce to Amber Heard and crumbling financial situation.

    In January 2017, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued ex-managers Joel and Robert Mandel at The Management Group (TMG) for $25 million in damages, alleging fraud and negligence, claiming they mishandled his finances and caused him to rack up more than $40 million in debt. They responded with their own countersuit, claiming he was to blame because his spending was out of control.

    Johnny became aware of his dire financial situation a few years before taking legal action, and during this time, he got divorced from his The Rum Diary co-star Amber in 2016 amid allegations of domestic abuse.

    In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the 55-year-old opened up about his emotional state during that period.

    “I was as low as I believe I could have gotten,” he said. “The next step was, ‘You’re going to arrive somewhere with your eyes open and you’re going to leave there with your eyes closed.’ I couldn’t take the pain every day.”

    He went on tour with the Hollywood Vampires, his band with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, and decided to write a memoir on an old typewriter.

    Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper from The Hollywood Vampires perform at the 2016 Starkey Hearing Foundation “So the World May Hear” awards gala at the St Paul RiverCentre on July 17, 2016 in St Paul, Minnesota. (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images for Starkey Hearing Foundation)

    “I poured myself a vodka in the morning and started writing until the tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see the page anymore,” he said emotionally, wiping his eyes. “I kept trying to figure out what I’d done to deserve this. I’d tried being kind to everyone, helping everyone, being truthful to everyone… The truth is most important to me. And all this still happened.”

    The Edward Scissorhands star also tearfully admitted it was unfair that his son Jack, 16, had to hear about his money problems at school.

    Besides the divorce and financial troubles, the death of rocker Tom Petty in October 2017 also hit Johnny hard. They had been friends for a long time and they would call each other up to check if the other was still smoking. The actor added, “I loved him,” as he wiped his eyes. Petty died of an accidental overdose at the age of 66.

    Johnny Depp’s gaunt, pale appearance worries fans

    (6/2/18) Johnny Depp has sparked concern after appearing dramatically different while touring Russia with his rock band.

    Fans commented on Johnny’s pale and gaunt appearance with some concerned that the actor has fallen ill.

    Johnny showed off his extensive tattoo work as he donned a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “Stay humble or be humbled.”

    Posing with supporters, he completed the look with several necklaces and distressed denim jeans.

    Several fans commented on pictures shared by an Instagram account dedicated to the actor.

    One concerned fanatic put: “He looks pale here. Hope he’s okay.”

    Another speculated: “He looks like this for a new movie. He is fine and not sick.”

    One fan tweeted: “Jonny Depp looks so bad, omg, is he ill or something?”

    Johnny is currently on a mammoth world tour with his rock supergroup, Hollywood Vampires.

    The above pictures were taking at the Four Seasons hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia.

    “The Pirates of the Caribbean” actor plays guitar alongside rock veterans Alice Cooper and Joe Perry.

    Johnny will make a controversial return to the big screen later this year as he reprises the role of Grindelwald in Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

    J.K. Rowling has had to defend her decision to cast Johnny following a turbulent few years for the star.

    The actor was accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife Amber Heard following their split in 2016.

    The statement concluded: “Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies.

    ‘City Of Lies’ Trailer: Johnny Depp & Forest Whitaker Take The Biggie Smalls Case

    (5/22/18) (Video) “A murder like that only goes unsolved if the police don’t want to solve it.” That’s the take of Johnny Depp’s LAPD detective Russell Poole in City of Lies, Global Road’s Brad Furman-directed crime thriller based on the true story behind the investigation into the murder of rap star the Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls, in 1997, gunned down in a drive-by at the intersection of Fairfax and Wilshire in L.A.

    The first trailer for the pic, which has a September 7 release date, comes on what would have been Smalls’ 46th birthday.

    The film, which had been known as LAbyrinth, co-stars Forest Whitaker as the journalist looking into the unsolved murder, which came six months after the death of Smalls’ rap rival Tupac Shakur in Las Veags. Whitaker’s “Jack” Jackson teams with Poole and unravels a growing web of institutional corruption and lies that could pull the city apart.

    Christian Contreras penned the script based on Randall Sullivan’s 2002 book, which recounted Poole’s investigation and his discovery of the relationships between members of the LAPD and Suge Knight’s Death Row Records. Many have discounted the allegations of Poole, who investigated both Smalls’ and Tupac’s deaths. He died in 2015.

    Miriam Segal is producer of City of Lies.

    Check out the trailer above.

    ALICE COOPER On HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES Bandmate JOHNNY DEPP: 'People Are Going To Be Very Surprised When They Hear Him Play'

    (5/16/18) HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, the supergroup featuring international film star and musician Johnny Depp alongside Alice Cooper and AEROSMITH's Joe Perry, will embark on a U.K. tour in June. Support at all four shows will come from THE DARKNESS and THE DAMNED.

    Cooper told the Evening Standard that fans will be shocked when they hear Depp play guitar.

    "He's not new to playing on stage," Alice said. "People are going to be very surprised when they hear him play, because they know him as Jack Sparrow.

    "When they see a guitar in his band, they going to say, 'Wait a minute! I didn't have any idea he could play like that.' He's a real guitar player. I wouldn't be working with anybody that wasn't as good as anybody I've worked with normally.

    "Last year, we were testing the waters to see if people were even going to be interested in what we were doing, and we found that they were; we got great reactions and sold out quite a few places. I think a lot of that might have been out of curiosity — Joe Perry, Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper; what a weird combination."

    HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES' full lineup for the U.K. tour will be as follows:

    Alice Cooper - Vocals

    Johnny Depp - Guitar

    Joe Perry - Guitar

    Sheryl Cooper - Vocals

    Chris Wyse - Bass

    Tommy Henriksen - Guitars/Music Director

    Glen Sobel - Drums

    Buck Johnson - Keyboards

    During the 1970s in the upstairs bar of the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, the "Hollywood Vampires" were born. It was a gathering place where celebrated artists such as John Lennon, Keith Moon, Jim Morrison, Alice Cooper, Harry Nilsson and countless others would meet and drink into the early morning hours, and the club became legendary.

    Back in 2012, Cooper and Depp decided the time was right to revive the camaraderie and spirit that defined Hollywood Vampires" (minus the drinking), creating an environment for great artists to hang, laugh and play together. Cooper and Depp were joined by Perry, along with producer Bob Ezrin, and soon the recording began. The band's debut album, "Hollywood Vampires", was released in September 2015.

    Johnny Depp Hit In Unpaid Bodyguards Suit; Claims Of Drug Use & “Chaos”

    (5/1/18) Already facing multi-million-dollar legal battles with his former business managers and former lawyers, Johnny Depp now looks to have to seek protection from two of his ex-bodyguards.

    “Terminated” back in 2016 and then rehired in a new employee capacity after several years working for the Murder On The Orient Express actor, Eugene Arreola and Miguel Sanchez today hit Depp with a multi-claim lawsuit over unpaid wages and working conditions. As with the ongoing big bucks dust-ups with The Management Group and the Bloom Firm, this action pulls back the curtain on Depp’s private life and excesses, perhaps damningly.

    “In early 2016 Plaintiffs began to notice a stark change in Depp and the atmosphere on his Hollywood Hills compound,” the jury trial-seeking-complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court revealed (read it here). “Depp began making sudden and drastic changes to his staff and management team, causing a significant financial crunch for everyone surrounding Depp, except for Depp himself,” the paperwork also said. With allegations of “chaos,” a “financial hurricane” and more, this is language very familiar to those who have followed the other lawsuits and their tales of excess and the consequences overlooked.

    “Often times Plaintiffs were forced to protect Defendant Depp from himself and his vices while in public,” the duo claim. “An incident at a local nightclub involved Plaintiffs alerting Depp of illegal substances visible on his face and person while preventing onlookers from noticing Depp’s condition,” the failure to pay wages, wrongful termination and unlawful business practices claiming filing added.

    “As a result of the toxic and dangerous work environment and the constant labor code violations of their employers, Plaintiffs were forced to leave their employment despite the fact that they enjoyed many of the people they worked with and have no ill will toward Johnny Depp,” the experienced and dedicated bodyguards state.

    “After years of happily working for Johnny Depp and his family, my clients found themselves in unsafe and unacceptable situations once Edward White took the reins,” attorney Tamar Arminak told Deadline today of Depp’s business partner, who is also a defendant in the new case. “As a result of White’s control and mismanagement, Depp owes my clients for significant unpaid wages,” the Glendale-based lawyer declared.

    Having gone through a couple of law firms and attorneys in recent months like his Pirates of the Caribbean character Captain Jack chugs back the rum, Depp is set to go to trial in August against TMG. Whether or not that actually occurs is up in the air as a scheduled deposition in the January 2017 filed $25 million case by Plaintiff Depp has been postponed several times due to his rotating cast of attorneys.

    While he may or may not still be working with the Oscar nominee, Washington DC-based lawyer Adam Waldman did not respond today to request for comment on this latest suit. As with the two other suits, this one from Arreola and Sanchez calls Depp’s financial stability into account, again.

    As well as facing an unpaid commissions cross-complaint and foreclosure move from the well established TMG, Depp is also being sued back by his former longtime lawyers at Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP. Depp went after the Hollywood heavyweights for $30 million in October 2017, declaring that the attorneys were in cahoots with TMG to rip him off after years of loyal service and seemingly wild spending by the well compensated star.

    Johnny Depp-Produced ‘Muscle Shoals’ Drama From Global Road Entertainment Set At ABC

    (4/27/18) Muscle Shoals, a drama based on the life of Rick Hall, producer of the legendary Muscle Shoals sound, has sold to ABC for development under a straight-to-series model, Deadline has learned. The project hails from Global Road Entertainment, Johnny Depp and Christie Dembrowski’s Infinitum Nihil, Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced, and Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin’s City Entertainment. The drama has been in development at Global Road since 2016.

    Emmy-nominated Bettina Gilois (Bessie) is writing the drama based on Hall’s life as chronicled in his autobiography The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame and the acclaimed Sundance documentary Muscle Shoals.

    Depp, Dembrowski and Bobby DeLeon of Infinitum Nihil are executive producing along with Jason Felts, Justin Berfield and Rene Rigal at Branson’s Virgin Produced; and City Entertainment’s Maurer and Witlin. Nancy Wilson of the seminal group Heart serves as Executive Music Producer with Geoff Bywater through their Roadcase Productions shingle. Greg “Freddy” Camalier, who directed the documentary Muscle Shoals which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, is also serving as executive producer.

    The series is inspired by Hall’s true-life roller-coaster story as founder of the modern day “Muscle Shoals Sound,” and his Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Under Hall’s vision and inspiration, Muscle Shoals became the epicenter for recording some of the most iconic songs in history with artists such as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Clarence Carter, and Arthur Alexander. Hall passed away at the age of 85 on January 2, 2018.

    Gilois received an Emmy nomination for outstanding writing of a TV movie for HBO’s Bessie. The film earned 12 Emmy nominations, winning for Outstanding Television Movie. Her other writing credits include Disney’s McFarland USA and Glory Road and Lifetime’s The Lost Wife of Robert Durst.

    “ABC is the perfect home for this incredible story of perseverance, creativity, and larger-than-life personalities,” said Mark Stern, President of Scripted Television, Global Road Entertainment. We are also honored to be working with this amazing creative team on such an auspicious project.”

    Johnny Depp Dumped By New Lawyers As Trial Looms In Ex-Biz Managers Battle

    (4/20/18) At World’s End may not just be a title in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise for Johnny Depp but also the state of the star’s $25 million fraud lawsuit with his former business managers.

    Less than three weeks after losing heavyweights Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP as part of his legal team in the nearly year and a half long multi-complaint battle with The Management Group, Depp has now been bloodlessly cut loose by replacement Michelman & Robinson, LLP.

    “Upon having had an opportunity to review this matter in detail, we have determined it is in the best interest of our firm to focus our attention on other matters,” a spokesperson for the Irvine, CA based firm bluntly told Deadline today. “We wish the parties luck in resolving their differences,” they added after a deep dive into the affair and then exit of the leaking Good Ship Depp in just under a month.

    Additionally, I hear that Michelman & Robinson attorneys will not be in front of Judge Teresa Beaudet tomorrow in Los Angeles Superior Court tomorrow for a scheduled procedural motion hearing in the case that Depp instigated against TMG back in January 2017. Amidst tales of extravagant spending by the Murder On The Orient Express star, foreclosure attempts and bare financial cupboards dominating the actor’s complaint and the commission seeking cross-complaint that TMG hit back with soon afterwards, this latest shake-up in the Oscar nominee’s legal representation also comes as an August 15 trial start date is approaching in the matter.

    Even closer on the calendar and making Depp look more like a defendant than the plaintiff he is, I’ve learned that a deposition of the actor that was supposed to take place in early May has certainly been postponed. No new deposition date has been penciled in despite the legal invectives and moves each side have lashed the other with and the trial date on the horizon.

    Another wrinkle in the matter is the status of Washington DC-based lawyer Adam Waldman in the case.

    Depp’s most vocal advocate was listed on April 4 filings as “former attorneys for plaintiff and cross-defendant.” However, indications were that an error had taken place and Waldman and the Endeavor Law Firm would be formally put back on the case, so to speak. Oddly, that has not occurred yet and officially Waldman is still no longer repping Depp. Requests for comment by Waldman on the matter went unanswered this evening.

    As we reported earlier this month when Depp and Manatt split, Waldman remains an attorney on the actor’s October 17, 2017 filed $30 million suit against his former long time lawyers at Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP. Depp alleges that Jacob Bloom and crew improperly charged him fees and engaged in self-dealing related to the actor’s dealing with TMG.

    Unsurprisingly, the Bloom firm countersued in December of last year claiming that they have “been damaged, and continues to be damaged, to the extent the parties’ fee agreement is not enforced and Cross-Defendants have not paid the reasonable value of the legal services” they say they provided the seemingly strapped Depp over the decades.

    In previous filings, TMG detailed what they call “irresponsible and profligate spending” by Depp to the tune of millions and millions every month over the past several years. “Depp listened to no one, including TMG and his other advisors, and he demanded they fund a lifestyle that was extravagant and extreme,” the well established Hollywood biz managers stated in their November 2017 action for judicial foreclosure against the actor for a $5 million loan TMG said they made to him to bail him out a few years back.

    To be specific, TMG made public last year a gilded list that included the $3 million bucks the Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas star spent to shoot Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes out of a cannon over a decade ago. Detailing what appeared to be a landscape of living way beyond one’s considerable means, Depp’s ex-business manager of 17-years also revealed in their cross-complaint of January 2017 the expenses of $75 million the actor spent to acquire, improve and furnish 14 residences, a hefty guitar and art collection, a yearly payroll of $10 million for friends and family, bodyguards, and at least $2 million a month being paid out for day-to-day costs. In an interview last spring Depp reiterated much of which had been said in his own court filings and added that TMG had “clearly let me down.”

    On the other side of the initial case, TMG are still represented by Michael Kump and Suaan MacIsaac of Santa Monica’s Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP – as they have been since this all started.

    Johnny Depp Loses Lawyers As Trial Battle With Ex-Biz Managers Approaches

    (3/6/18) Little more than four months before Johnny Depp is scheduled to go to trial against his former business managers in a more than $25 million fraud battle, the Pirates of the Caribbean star has lost his major law firm.

    Managing partner Mona Hanna of Irvine, CA-based Michelman & Robinson has taken over for Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP as Depp’s lead lawyer on paper, with the sweeping personnel change coming as an August 15 trial start date looms for a pair of revealing suits involving The Management Group.

    Depp is scheduled to give a sworn deposition in early May; the lawyer change could be partly a roll-of-the-dice move to see that date pushed back.

    The news that Matthew Kanny, litigator John Gatti, Benjamin Chew and a team of attorneys at the high-powered Manatt were out in came in documents (read here) filed in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this week. The lead Manatt attorney on the case, Chew, is in the process of leaving the firm too, I hear.

    Additionally, Washington DC-based lawyer Adam Waldman also seems to be off Team Johnny, at least on paper. The most vigorous public defender of Depp’s against claims of outlandish financial excess and bad decisions since the legal dustup with TMG hit the courts in January 2017, Waldman and the Endeavor Law Firm are currently listed on the proof of service of the April 4 filing as “former attorneys for plaintiff and cross-defendant.” However, I hear there was an error on the paperwork and Waldman will continue on in his role, with a correction coming soon.

    The substitution filing also comes just more than two weeks after Waldman and the Manatt team hit back against TMG’s “action for judicial foreclosure” filing of last November on five Los Angeles properties Depp owns, an attempt to recoup a $5 million loan the company made to the actor years ago. Now connected to the initial case and also set for trial this summer, the March 20 paperwork (read it here) denied “generally and specifically, each and every allegation contained in the Complaint and each and every cause of action alleged against Mr. Depp.”

    Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP did not respond to request for comment on its exit as Depp’s reps in the TMG matter.

    Waldman, meanwhile, remains on Depp’s team in the actor’s $30 million lawsuit against his old attorney Jacob Bloom and his Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP, accusing the firm of helping TMG lead Deppdown the financial garden path. The Hollywood legal heavyweights swung back against The Murder On The Orient Express star’s big-bucks October 2017 action with a trial-seeking counter-claim in December.

    The suit against Bloom and the ongoing brawl with TMG has left few stones unturned regarding how Depp rolls financially and how he ended up near skint on paper.

    When this all started early last year, TMG deftly filed a cross-complaint that sought more than $560,000 in allegedly owed commissions, asking to halt the actor’s $25 million fraud suit and put Depp’s bottom line under public scrutiny. Calling the actor’s suit “absurd and false,” that filing was the first of many now to unveil detail after detail of Oscar nominee Depp’s extravagant expenses of homes, cars, guitars, family on the payroll, shooting the ashes of pal Hunter S. Thompson out of a cannon in 2005, and at least $2 million a month for day-to-day costs, among other revelations. Things has only become even more fractured between the parties in the nearly year and a half since with amended complaints, the foreclosure move, and even so-called whistleblower testimony from an ex-employee of TMG.

    Last summer, L.A. Superior Court Judge Teresa Beaudet ruled Depp’s personal spending habits were not pertinent to the core of TMG’s case. However, the judge said she would let the declaratory relief claim be restated by the company’s lawyers – which they did in a July 20, 2017 filing. In filings of his own, Depp has denied such a state of sad financial affairs is his doing and in a spring 2017 interview said that TMG “clearly let me down.”

    Amidst all this, The Management Group continues to be repped by Michael Kump and Suaan Macisaac of Santa Monica’s Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP.

    STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Joined By JOHNNY DEPP On Stage At U.S. Tour Kick-Off

    (3/4/18) (Video) STONE TEMPLE PILOTS were joined by Wayne Kramer (MC5) and actor Johnny Depp on stage last night at the opening show of the band's U.S. tour at The Canyon in Santa Clarita, California. They performed a cover version of MC5's classic song "Kick Out the Jams" followed by the STP's "Sex Type Thing". Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen above.

    Johnny Depp’s Ex-Lawyers Suing ‘Pirates’ Star Back After He Hit Them For $30M

    (12/17/17) Still wrestling in the courts with his former business managers over millions, home foreclosures and claims of excess, Johnny Depp now finds himself at the legal receiving end of one of Hollywood’s biggest lawyers in a $30 million sword fight that is sure to take some of the cheer out of his Christmas.

    Less than two months after the thrashing Pirates of the Caribbean star dragged his old attorney Jacob Bloom and his Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman LLP firm into the battle with The Management Group with a malpractice suit, the lawyers have sued back.

    “Bloom Hergott has been damaged, and continues to be damaged, to the extent the parties’ fee agreement is not enforced and Cross-Defendants have not paid the reasonable value of the legal services that Bloom Hergott provided to Cross-Defendants, in an amount to be proven at trial, plus interest,” said a cross-complaint from Bloom and the firm filed last week in LA Superior Court against Depp and his corporate entities. The firm provided Depp with legal representation for decades and up to July of this year, according to the cross-complaint.

    Claiming that there never was a “statutorily prescribed written contract” with his long time lawyer, Depp’s October 18 suit declared that “instead of protecting Mr. Depp’s interests, Defendants engaged in misconduct for their own financial benefit and violated some of the most basic tenets of the attorney-client relationship, all to Mr. Depp’s serious financial detriment, causing Mr. Depp substantial economic harm.”

    At the same time as launching their cross-complaint, Bloom and his firm have also answered that scathing accusation by basically pronouncing the actor his own worst enemy. “The events and happenings alleged in the complaint, as well as ensuing injuries and losses, if any, were proximately caused and contributed to by the negligence, fault, and misconduct of Plaintiffs and/or their agents and representatives (whose acts, conduct, and/or omissions are chargeable to Plaintiffs),” said the now canned Depp attorneys to the seemingly financially tight Murder On The Orient Express cast member.

    Johnny Depp’s DC-based lawyer Adam Waldman did not respond to request from Deadline for comment on the latest sets of filings

    While a further dunking for Depp, the cross-complaint and response shouldn’t be that big a surprise as back in late October, reps for Bloom and the firm said that they saw things differently than “Mr. Depp and his counsel on the law and the facts, and intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously.”

    It also follows the pattern of the TMG dust-up after the actor first sued his old long time biz mangagers in a $25 million lawsuit back in January.

    Soon afterwards, TMG filed a cross-complaint of their own against Depp in response to his suit that proclaimed that the actor’s spending habits were the real cause of his apparently shrinking bank accounts and he owed them over $500,000 in unpaid commissions. As the second of many shots the two sides have taken against each other since, that cross-complaint damningly detailed an opulent lifestyle of homes all over the world, lavish art collections, cars, boats, plus the $3 million Depp spent to launch the ashes of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s out of a cannon in 2005 and the $2 million he pays out every month on day-to-day expenses.

    As the bile blew in both directions, TMG brought out a big cannon on November 8 and filed an action for judicial foreclosure against Depp. The dramatic move was to force the sale of five City of Angels properties owned by Depp run trusts to help repay a $5 million loan that TMG claim they made to the strapped actor in December 2012.

    Right now, the next benchmark in this matter with Bloom and his firm is a case management conference pencilled in for March 16, 2018. However, if the love of litigation that this case and the TMG case has shown, is any roadmap, expect more paperwork salvos to be shot across the respective bows before then.

    Jacob Bloom and his firm are being represented in this dust-up with their ex-client by Kurt peterson, Peter Kennedy and Matthew Wrensahll of LA’s Reed Smith LLP.

    Amber Heard fires back after J.K. Rowling defends Johnny Depp casting

    (12/8/17) Amber Heard has fired back at J.K. Rowling after the author defended her decision to cast the actress’ ex-husband Johnny Depp in the Fantastic Beasts films.

    Fans of the wizarding franchise, prequels to the Harry Potter films, have questioned Rowling and the judgement of film producers who have allowed Depp to keep the role of Gellert Grindelwald after his former wife alleged he’d been physically and mentally abusive with her throughout their short-lived marriage.

    The 31-year-old actress also obtained a temporary restraining order when she first split from Depp, 54.

    On Thursday, Rowling released a statement, explaining that “the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies”.

    Heard clapped back on Friday, taking to social media to share an image of the joint statement she and Depp released when they settled their divorce in August, 2016.

    “Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love,” the statement read. “Neither party has made false accusations for financial gains. There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm.

    “Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity.”

    She captioned the image: “For the record, this was our FULL joint statement. To pick & choose certain lines & quote them out of context, is not right. Women, stay strong. Love, Amber.”

    Heard was awarded US$7 million in the divorce settlement, and she has vowed to donate the cash to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

    The couple’s divorce was finalised in January.

    Johnny will star in the next Fantastic Beasts movie, The Crimes of Grindelwald, alongside Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston and Ezra Miller. It hits theatres next November.

    J.K. Rowling breaks silence on Johnny Depp casting after domestic abuse allegations

    (12/8/17) J.K. Rowling voiced her support for Johnny Depp and his casting in an upcoming sequel to “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” following earlier domestic abuse allegations made against the actor.

    The author published a statement on her website Thursday, breaking her silence on what had been a simmering controversy for the franchise. Some Harry Potter fans have said they would boycott “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” after Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard in May 2016 said that Depp was “verbally and physically abusive” to her during their marriage. Depp earlier called that claim and others “salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation and lies.” The two settled their divorce last year.

    Rowling acknowledged that the reports “deeply concerned” her and others behind the production, and that she and director David Yates considered recasting Depp’s role. While Depp had a brief cameo in “Fantastic Beasts,” he has a starring role as the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the follow-up film, and potentially future installments in the pre-Potter franchise.

    “For me personally, the inability to speak openly to fans about this issue has been difficult, frustrating and at times painful. However, the agreements that have been put in place to protect the privacy of two people, both of whom have expressed a desire to get on with their lives, must be respected,” wrote Rowling. “Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies.”

    Rowling added: “I accept that there will be those who are not satisfied with our choice of actor in the title role. However, conscience isn’t governable by committee. Within the fictional world and outside it, we all have to do what we believe to be the right thing.”

    Warner Bros. said it supported the decision.

    “This matter has been jointly addressed by both parties, in a statement in which they said ’there was never any intent of physical or emotional harm,”’ said the studio in a statement. “Based on the circumstances and the information available to us, we, along with the filmmakers, continue to support the decision to proceed with Johnny Depp in the role of Grindelwald in this and future films.”

    Johnny Depp has a threesome in pal Marilyn Manson’s new video

    (11/15/17) Johnny Depp plays a starring role in Marilyn Manson’s new x-rated music video as he strips naked for a threesome.

    The racy short for “Kill4Me” sees the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, 54, taking his clothes off and simulating a seriously scandalous bedroom scene with two models.

    The video casts Depp as a voyeuristic video editor who is lured into a tryst with models Bailee Cowperthwaite and Jocelyn Binder.

    Needless to say, with it being a video for the king of shock rock the video is sure to cause scandal.

    Stripping naked and rolling around in the sheets with the two women, Depp can be seen simulating a number of sexual acts with the girls.

    The group writhe around on an opulent bed as Depp and the girls take turns to mount each other, and even Manson himself sneaks into the scene he slithers into certain shots.

    Depp’s involvement in the slick and suitably dark yet glamorous music video should come as little surprise to fans of the rock star and actor, as the pair are long-term friends.

    The actor featured on 2012’s “Born Villain,” where he played guitar on the cover of “You’re So Vain.”

    Depp has also appeared in the “Say10” music video which was released in October, shortly after Manson dropped his long-awaited, “Heaven Upside Down” album.

    The self-proclaimed “Antichrist Superstar” spoke to The Sun about his latest musical effort, which he is currently touring the US and Europe in support of.

    Touching on the video, Manson said: “At the end, when you see the underwear burning, those are mine — and that’s Johnny’s lighter — he burnt my f—king underwear!

    “I was embarrassed to be nude in front of these two girls, Johnny too. We’ve been friends for so long but we don’t sit around and look at each other’s undercarriages.”

    And touching on the roots of their deep 20-year-long friendship, he added: “We were both white trash from hillbilly country, to use the vernacular, and sharpened our teeth in Florida.”

    JOE PERRY's 'Sweetzerland Manifesto' Album To Feature Guest Appearances By JOHNNY DEPP, ROBIN ZANDER

    (11/15/17) Joe Perry — legendary guitarist, co-founding member, principal songwriter and co-producer of AEROSMITH — is readying his new solo album, "Sweetzerland Manifesto", for release on January 19.

    Due out on his own Roman Records imprint (distributed worldwide by Amped Distribution), "Sweetzerland Manifesto" marks Joe's sixth solo album and is comprised of 10 new tracks. They were all written or co-written by Joe (many with the album's guest vocalists), except for a cover of "Eve Of Destruction" with Joe on lead vocals and Johnny Depp on drums. The album features guest appearances from a long list of Joe's friends, colleagues and rock and roll icons. Highlights include "Aye, Aye, Aye", which Joe co-wrote with the track's vocalist Robin Zander, and three collaborations with David Johansen, who sings "I Wanna Roll", "Haberdasher Blues" and "I'm Going Crazy", plus as many co-writes with Terry Reid whose lead vocals light up "I'll Do Happiness" (with Zak Starkey on drums), "Sick & Tired" and "Won't Let Me Go".

    "Sweetzerland Manifesto" was recorded at Studio 1480 in Los Angeles and produced by Joe Perry and Bruce Witkin, with Johnny Depp serving as executive producer and additional help from Jack Douglas, who co-wrote and co-produced a number of tracks. It was engineered by Witkin and Tony Perry. The album was mixed by Tony Perry with Ari Blitz serving as assistant mix engineer at After Master in Los Angeles. On the album, Joe also teams up with sons Tony and Roman on "Spanish Sushi", which was produced and arranged by The Perry Boys with Joe on guitars and bass, Roman adding synthesizer programming and Tony handling drum programming.

    "It's going to be interesting to see what songs people gravitate to because there's such a wide variety of tunes," Joe notes.

    "Sweetzerland Manifesto" track listing:

    01. Rumble In The Jungle (instrumental)
    02. I'll Do Happiness (featuring Terry Reid)
    03. Aye, Aye, Aye (featuring Robin Zander)
    04. I Wanna Roll (featuring David Johansen)
    05. Sick & Tired (featuring Terry Reid)
    06. Haberdasher Blues (featuring David Johansen)
    07. Spanish Sushi (instrumental)
    08. Eve Of Destruction (featuring Joe Perry)
    09. I'm Going Crazy (featuring David Johansen)
    10. Won't Let Me Go (featuring Terry Reid).

    ‘Sherlock Gnomes’ Trailer: Johnny Depp On The Hunt For Kidnapped Garden Dwellers

    (11/7/17) (Video) It’s been nearly seven years since we were introduced to Gnomeo and Juliet, and now the garden-variety couple resides in London. They were supposed to live happily ever after, but then the gnome-nappings began. And there’s only one man — er, gnome — who can crack the case.

    Here is the trailer for Sherlock Gnomes, the long-in-the-works sequel to 2011’s Gnomeo and Juliet. With the titular couple (returnees James McAvoy and Emily Blunt) newly arrived in the English capital, their biggest concern is getting their new garden ready for spring. But when their friends and family turn up missing, they call in the legendary detective Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp).

    The sworn protector of London’s garden gnomes arrives with his sidekick Watson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to investigate the case. The mystery lead the garden partiers on a rollicking adventure where they will meet all new ornaments and explore an undiscovered side of the city.

    Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Stephen Merchant and Ozzy Osbourne reprise their voice roles from the original pic, which grossed nearly $194 million worldwide. New to the franchise, along with Depp and Ejiofor, is Mary J. Blige. Elton John and his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin contributed original music for the toon, which is directed by Kung Fu Panda co-helmer John Stevenson from a script by Ben Zazove.

    Paramount Pictures releases the film from MGM and Paramount Animation on March 23. Check out the trailer above and tell us what you think.

    Johnny Depp Slams New Foreclosure Threat in Fight Over His Lost Fortune

    (11/7/17) Johnny Depp has no plans to move out of the five homes his former business managers are threatening to take away from him.

    The Murder on the Orient Express star’s former managers at The Management Group (TMG) filed a motion Monday to foreclose on five of his properties in Los Angeles in order to cover a $5 million loan the company says it gave him in 2012.

    “Today’s improper foreclosure action is the latest of the Mandels’ efforts to intimidate Mr. Depp into dropping his lawsuit,” Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman tells PEOPLE.

    Asked whether TMG will get Depp’s homes, Waldman added, “Of course not, and they know it. We will move for sanctions for this latest publicity stunt.”

    TMG claims it took out the loan to cover Depp’s debt and save him from bankruptcy. His former managers also allege that the five houses included in Monday’s motion were used as collateral for the loan, and since Depp has stopped making payments, they want to sell the houses.

    The threat of foreclosure is just the latest exchange in what has become a bitter back-and-forth between the actor and his former managers, who he claims mismanaged the $650 million he’s made in the last two decades to the point of depletion.

    Depp sued TMG in February for $25 million in a fraud lawsuit, in which he claimed that the firm was trying to foreclose on his primary residence. “As a result of years of gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud, Mr. Depp lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct,” read the complaint.

    “In essence, TMG treated Mr. Depp’s income as their own, available to either TMG or third parties to draw upon as desired,” the filing continued.

    Waldman notes that after Depp filed his lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported that TMG was facing separate probes by the US Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service and the SEC.

    TMG later filed a cross-complaint against Depp, claiming the actor lived an “ultra-extravagant lifestyle that often knowingly cost [him] in excess of $2 million per month to maintain, which he simply could not afford.”

    A judge ultimately ruled that Depp’s personal spending habits are not currently relevant in his ongoing legal battle.

    Moving forward, a judge will decide whether or not to sign off on the foreclosure.

    Johnny Depp Hit With Foreclosure On Homes By Ex-Biz Managers For $5M Loan

    (11/7/17) Johnny Depp seemed quite tired and emotional last week at the London premiere for the new Murder On The Orient Express but today the Oscar nominee may be feeling the wolf is at the door, at least legally and residentially.

    Nearly a year after Depp and his former business managers start throwing accusations and betrayals at each other in court over millions in the seemingly spendthrift actor’s troubled finances, The Management Group on Monday filed an “action for judicial foreclosure” against the Pirates of the Caribbean star.

    Aiming for the heart of what started the lawsuits flying back in January when the actor went after TMG in a $25 million fraud suit, the move Monday is to force a sale of five Los Angeles properties owned by Depp run trusts. Those sales are part of a larger play to repay a $5 million loan TMG made to the strapped actor in December 2012.

    “TMG agreed to come to the aid of its long-time client,” the complaint filed in LA Superior Court today said of a pressing and due City National Bank loan that Depp had no way of meeting and his ex-biz managers got a “pass-through” for. “The idea behind this arrangement, which was designed to save Depp from a public and devastating financial collapse, was that Depp would pay TMG what TMG was required to pay CNB under the loan,” the non-jury trial seeking document adds of the company and its 17-year long client’s deal (read it here).

    “At least at the time, Depp and his sister, personal manager, and the president of his production company, (Elisa Christi) Dembrowski, were very grateful to TMG for coming to Depp’s aid and helping him to avoid a public financial collapse,” TMG’s lawyers Michael Kump and Suann MacIsaac assert. “In fact, three years later, Depp used the fact that TMG had lent him money to pressure his long-time agent, United Talent Agency, to guarantee a further multi-million dollar loan from Bank of America,” the duo declare.

    These sort of foreclosure actions usually move through the courts faster than most matters and, if a judgment is found in Depp’s disfavor, could see the Sheriff or a marshall snagging the properties within a year and selling them to pay the loan Depp has apparently decided not to.

    “Depp paid interest and some principal payments under the TMG/Depp Note until he terminated TMG as his business manager on March 14, 2016,” the 10-page plus exhibits filing states. “After that date, Depp and his new business manager, (Edward) White, have refused to pay any interest or principal on the loan,” it goes on to detail. “Well over $4.4 million is due and owing under the TMG/Depp Note,” the document cites of the big bucks involved as well as fees and interest.

    “Although Depp is refusing to pay his debts, he does not and cannot dispute that he received the full benefits of the TMG/Depp Note by avoiding a public calamity in 2012,” the duo from of Tinseltown heavyweights Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP state. “Nor can he dispute that TMG gained nothing from the transactions and instead, became indebted to CNB for $5 million.”

    Then there’s that kicker: “However, in Depp’s self-centered world, ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’”

    Reps for Depp did not reply to request for comment from Deadline.

    In past filings, TMG have detailed what they call “irresponsible and profligate spending” by Depp over the past several years and how repeated attempts to face up to financial realities floundered. “Depp listened to no one, including TMG and his other advisors, and he demanded they fund a lifestyle that was extravagant and extreme,” today’s action reiterates in language similar to past actions in the matter. In filings of his own, Depp has denied such a state of affairs is to be laid at his feet and in an April interview said that TMG “clearly let me down.”

    Today, as in the past, TMG say otherwise.

    “As a result of Depp’s uncontrollable spending, which exceeded the net income he received from his films, Depp was forced to borrow large sums of money to fund a lifestyle that continued to become more and more extravagant over the years,” Monday’s fairly detailed filing says. “At the outset, this borrowing was in the form of advances from various movie studios, primarily Disney.”

    Today’s filing is another skin unveiled Depp’s finances over the past several months. Unveiling that revealed, first made public in a January 31 TMG cross complaint, the $3 million the Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas star paid out to shoot Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes out of a cannon in 2005 and the more $2-million he forks out in monthly expenses, among other bottom line details.

    The dense six-claim filing from TMG sought more $560,000 in unpaid commissions and credit card fees and to halt Depp’s January $25 million suit. They also wanted, and have been fighting for, a court declaration that TMG “complied with all of its fiduciary obligations under the law and that Depp is responsible for his own financial waste.”

    Today’s complaint also comes less than a month after Depp sued his ex-lawyer Jacob Bloom for $30 million that the actor claims paid out improperly in fees and self-dealing related to dealings with The Management Group.

    Co-starring Penelope Cruz, Willem Defoe, Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kenneth Branagh, who also directed, Murder on the Orient Express comes out on November 10.

    Johnny Depp Was Not Drunk at Premiere Despite Reports

    (11/5/17) Johnny Depp was "not drunk" at the premiere of Murder on the Orient Express, despite recent reports, E! News has learned.

    The British newspaper The Sun reported that the actor "allegedly reeked of booze" at the event, which took place on Thursday, and that his bodyguard Jerry Judge had to "practically hold him up" on the red carpet. In many photos of Depp at the event, he is seen being guided around by the man around the area, which was surrounded by screaming fans. The Daily Mail and The Mirror reported that Depp allegedly looked "worse for wear."

    "These reports are completely false. Johnny was not drunk at the premiere. He came straight from set to the premiere," a source told E! News exclusively on Saturday. "His security was maneuvering him around the carpet as he has done for years."

    Murder on the Orient Express is based on Agatha Christie's 1934 mystery novel and tells of a mystery surrounding the murder of a passenger, played by Depp, on a train traveling across Europe. The movie also stars Star Wars' Daisy Ridley, Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides co-star Penélope Cruz, his Dark Shadows co-star Michelle Pfeiffer, Leslie Odom Jr., fellow Disney star Josh Gad, Willem Dafoe and Judi Dench and is set for release on November 10.

    Its London premiere marked Depp's first movie premiere since the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales event in Tokyo in June.

    During his time in London, Depp talked about how back in April, he surprised people on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland by showing up inside dressed as his character Jack Sparrow.

    "I thought, how great will it be to be able to have the opportunity to stand there as some sort of animatronic until the people come by and then you start screaming," he said. "So all these years later, I got the chance to do it, so I was very excited."

    "They sort of looked at me as they were coming around, and I'm frozen, and I went, 'Oy! What are you looking at?' And then...nothing," he said. "You know what I got? All of the iPhones in the world going, 'Wow. Well, that's a pretty good animatronic.' It was one of the proudest moments of my life."

    Did Johnny Depp show up drunk to a movie premiere?

    (11/4/17) Johnny Depp returned to London for the “Murder On The Orient Express” premiere on Thursday.

    And judging by the looks he got from his fellow cast members, the Hollywood star may have enjoyed a few drinks on the way down.

    Johnny appeared a little bit worse for wear on the red carpet at the Royal Albert Hall and allegedly reeked of booze while mixing with co-stars including Dame Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, and director Kenneth Branagh.

    Snaps of his personal security man Jerry Judge having to practically hold him up only added to the impression he was having a big night out.

    Indeed, Johnny’s partying started the previous evening at London club The Box.

    A movie source said: “Johnny was having big old night and was told off for smoking three times while inside.

    “He was annoyed people were staring at him too.

    “But on the night of the premiere, he was in a strange mood and everyone thought he’d been drinking.

    He was lamenting his split from Amber Heard so he’s clearly still not over the issues of the previous couple of years.

    “You can see why there are still some serious fears about his wellbeing.”

    Johnny split from Amber last May shortly before she accused him of domestic abuse.

    He decided against doing any press and missed the after-party too, telling his fellow co-stars and film bosses that there were “two hot blondes” he had to see before making a swift exit.

    Given how badly his most recent films have flopped, perhaps he’s waiting to see the box office results before celebrating.

    Johnny Depp Sues Lawyers for Malpractice

    (10/17/17) Johnny Depp claims the law firm that represented him for years betrayed him by conspiring with his financial manager who Depp claims fleeced him out of $40 million.

    Depp is suing the highly respected entertainment law firm, Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman, LLP ... claiming the lawyers allowed TMG -- Depp's financial managers -- to essentially rob him blind.

    Depp has TMG, but now he says his law firm were in cahoots with TMG, which took out enormous loans unbeknownst to debt and secured by the actor's movie residuals. When the residual payment were made to Depp, they were diverted to repay the loans.

    The suit claims the law firm built in its fee in the loans and skimmed the money off before Depp was entitled to his money.

    And the suit claims the law firm knew fully well what TMG was doing but never alerted Depp.

    And get this ... Depp claims during his long relationship with the firm he's paid them tens of millions of dollars in attorney's fee yet the firm never had him sign a retainer agreement.

    We reached out to Bloom, Hergott ... so far no word back.

    Johnny Depp details Gerry Conlon friendship in new book

    (10/10/17) Johnny Depp has opened up about his close relationship to Gerry Conlon in a foreword for the book “In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story,” out Oct. 18 by Richard O’Rawe.

    Conlon was known as one of the “Guildford Four” and spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted as an IRA bomber.

    The Irish News was given access to the passage written by Depp, who described Conlon as his one of his closest friends.

    The book gives in-depth details of Depp and Conlon’s relationship, including talk of a wallet that Depp still carries given to him by Conlon with the inscription “Saoirse,” which is Irish for “freedom.”

    Depp goes on to describe Conlon in the eight-page foreword: “Upon thinking of my long lost brother Gerry.”

    The friendship started in 1990 due to a brief encounter at a talent agency in LA.

    Depp also vacationed with Conlon’s family around Ireland.

    Depp goes on to say, “It was an honor to have known Gerry Conlon and to call him my friend.”

    Conlon suffered from drug use and died of lung cancer in 2014. He was 60.

    Johnny Depp’s Ex-Biz Managers Add Actor’s Friends & Family To Expenses Suit

    The bitter multi-million dollar legal battle between Johnny Depp and his former business managers at The Management Group over the Pirates Of The Caribbean star’s finances has just gotten a lot bigger and personal – literally.

    “In his attempt to avoid paying his debts to TMG, Depp is knowingly throwing his closest family, friends and employees under the bus by falsely alleging that they took millions of dollars in unauthorized payments from him,” a blunt amended complaint filed today in L.A. states of payments that they say the actor was “fully aware” of. “It is no wonder that Depp delayed for months in revealing their names,” the fraud claiming jury trial seeking paperwork adds. Which means, with those names now revealed, TMG have now added the Oscar nominee’s nephew, several close pals, a music label and Depp’s sister, who is also his personal manager and head of his production company, as cross-defendants in their cross-complaint. Essentially they’re saying: you’re suing the wrong people bucko!

    Additionally, the dramatic inclusion of sister Christi Dembrowski, nephew William Rassel, personal assistant, Nathan Holmes, Unison Music and friends James Russo, Sal Jenco, and Bruce Witkin to the cross-complaint raises the stakes in what has been a fairly salacious situation ever since Depp first sued TMG in filed a $25 million lawsuit, back in January.

    It also means under California’s equitable indemnity laws that a judge could press those family and friends to pay Depp back directly the nearly $10 million he says was improperly handed out on his behalf – which could make for a very uncomfortable family Thanksgiving to say the least.

    “Depp’s claims of unauthorized loans to the new Cross-Defendants are not a basis for Depp to obtain a judicial declaration requiring the disgorgement of any business management fees from TMG, or for any of his other baseless claims,” today’s third amended complaint by TMG’s Hollywood heavyweight lawyers at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP asserts. “Depp’s closest friends, family, and colleagues who have been added as new Cross-Defendants in this action have only Depp to blame for their involvement in this charade,” the 51-page filing adds.

    As things stand, after a hearing in DTLA this morning, a trial for the case is currently set to start on August 15, 2018. TMG insists that all those loans were authorized by Depp or by Dembrowski in his name. Depp’s side insists that was not the case, though they did fight hard to keep who actually got the more than $7 million now in dispute secret.

    As things also stand, despite Dembrowski being part of the group that got millions from the actor, Depp’s sister is still running his Infinitum Nihil production company with the actor, Sam Sarkar and Stephen Deuters. The company inked a first look deal with IM Global earlier this summer.

    Coming days after the auction for the belt tightening actor’s Kentucky farm failed to get a bid for its $2.9 million asking price, today’s filing is the latest twist in the fast weaving journey since Depp first took things to the courts on January 25 against his longtime business managers. In his initial suit, the actor preemptively claimed that he had been the subject of a Hollywood accounting swindle. “As a result of years of gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud, Mr. Depp lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct,” the actor’s suit read, amidst claims in unauthorized loans to unnamed individuals (See where this is going?).

    Specifically, in addition to the unauthorized loans, Depp’s lawyers at L.A-based firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLC claimed that TMG paid itself more than $28 million in contingency fees without a written agreement and failed to file or pay his taxes on time. The latter supposedly resulted in more than $5.6 million in fees and penalties on Depp’s federal returns.

    Back on January 31, TMG filed a cross-complaint that declared that the actor’s big spending habits were the real cause of his dwindling finances and he owned them over $500,000 in unpaid commissions. TMG’s response damningly detailed a lifestyle of the rich and famous of homes all over the world, lavish art collections, cars, boats, plus the $3 million Depp spent to launch the ashes of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s out of a cannon in 2005 and the $2 million he pays out every month on day-to-day expenses.

    Since then the two sides have sparred in filings, in court, in the press, in emails revelations and sought a probe from the feds over the case. In that process, more and more accusations have been thrown about and further examples of Depp’s allegedly extravagant spending habits being revealed.

    At a hearing in July, Judge Teresa Beaudet denied TMG’s motion for declaratory relief that Depp “caused his own financial waste” and wanted some of the spending details stripped out of the case, if they couldn’t be put in the proper context. The LASC judge also ruled however that TMG’s claim of promissory fraud against Depp could stand. Just over a week later, TMG filed a heavily redacted amended cross-complaint that cited more examples of Depp’s “ultra-extravagant lifestyle” over the 17-year period it repped the actor.

    So, on #TalkLikeAPirateDay, expect more of that before this thing goes to trial next summer, if it does.

    Nobody offered enough dough for Johnny Depp’s horse farm

    Johnny Depp‘s Kentucky horse farm has failed to sell at auction after bidding was too low.

    The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the 41-acre (17-hectare) Lexington property was listed for $2.9 million, but the top bid Friday was $1.4 million.

    After a conference with Depp business manager Edward White, the auctioneers ended the auction without a sale.

    The Halfhill Auction Group and White said they’ll continue talking to interested buyers.

    Although there were 14 registered bidders, it was clear from the outset the auction was going to be sluggish. An auctioneer’s suggestion the bidding start at $2.5 million drew no interest, and bidding began at $1 million.

    The property includes a 6,000-square-foot house with seven bedrooms, a four-car garage, a guesthouse and three barns.

    Depp is a Kentucky native born in Owensboro.

    Johnny Depp’s Kentucky horse farm to be sold at auction

    Johnny Depp’s Kentucky horse farm will be sold at auction next month.

    The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the 41-acre (17-hectare) Lexington property that includes a 6,000-square-foot (557-sq.-meter) brick house, a guesthouse and three barns will be sold at an auction conducted by the Halfhill Auction Group on Sept. 15. The group hasn’t revealed the minimum price that would be accepted.

    The farm was initially listed for sale in December at $3.4 million, which was later dropped to $2.9 million. Rector-Hayden Realtors’ Gary Denton says there were three offers, but none ended in a sale.

    County officials have assessed the fair cash value of the farm at $2.3 million.

    Depp is a Kentucky native. He purchased the farm in 1995, sold it in 2001 and bought it back in 2005.

    Johnny Depp Looks To Make Federal Case Of His Battle With Business Managers

    Johnny Depp is taking his battle with his former business managers to the feds. Deadline has confirmed that the actor has enlisted a trio of U.S. government agencies to look into the Mandel Group, with which the actor has been embroiled in a bitter dispute over his financial woes.

    The keyword above is “probe” — it is not a formal federal investigation, and no governmental agency reached out to Mandel.

    The Pirates of the Caribbean star filed a $25 million lawsuit against his longtime business managers, claiming that he had been swindled in the Hollywood accounting shell game. “As a result of years of gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud, Mr. Depp lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct,” the suit read.

    The defendants, however, were quick to counter, filing a cross-complaint about two weeks later that claimed Depp’s outlandish spending habits were the real source of his money problems. TMG cited, among other examples of cash outgo, the $3 million tab for launching the ashes of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s out of a cannon in 2005 and the $2 million he spends every month on expenses.

    The bad blood only has ratcheted up in the ensuing months. In May, TMG — aka the Mandel Company and the Management Group — filed a revised multi-claim complaint against Depp that followed a Wall Street Journal interview with the actor that touched on many aspects of the lawsuit and his belief that his money is his to spend as he chooses. Then in June, — after his latest Pirates film hit megaplexes worldwide — emails from Depp’s team were made public that detailed his lavish paydays and debt. The move was part of a motion to oppose Depp’s lawyers’ attempts to quash deposition subpoenas intended to obtain records related to the case.

    Then, at a hearing in July, Judge Teresa Beaudet denied TMG’s motion for declaratory relief that Depp “caused his own financial waste” but ruled that its claim of promissory fraud against the Oscar nominee can stand. Ten days later, TMG filed a heavily redacted amended cross-complaint that cited more examples of Depp’s “ultra-extravagant lifestyle” over the 17-year period it repped the actor.

    If not settled, the case is set to go before a jury on January 24.

    Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil To Produce ‘The Secret World’ TV Series Based On Video Game

    Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil has partnered with G4C Innovation’s Gudrun Giddings to produce The Secret World, a television series based on the globally successful MMO game The Secret World and its recently released reboot Secret World Legends.

    The TV adaptation, which is being written by James V. Hart (Hook, Crossbones) and Jake Hart, with former CSI: NY showrunner Pam Veasey on board as showrunner, will be based on the universe of the Secret World IP. It will center on a team of undercover agents and the shadowy war between secret societies: the Illuminati, Dragon and the Templar. Central to the plot is their battle against the supernatural in an adventure that spans across our world, and incorporates the realms of ancient myths and legends, as well as today’s conspiracy theories and headline news.

    Johnny Depp, Christi Dembrowski, Sam Sarkar and Gudrun Giddings will produce with Veasey.

    “The Secret World is the ideal gaming experience to translate into a live-action episodic adventure,” said Veasey.

    Created by Norwegian developer and publisher Funcom, the original game was first published in 2012 as one of that year’s top games .

    “The Secret World universe is full of stories just waiting to be told,” said Rui Casais, CEO of Funcom. From secret societies to myths and legends that are all coming true, The Secret World captures some of humanity’s greatest mysteries and asks ‘What if?'”

    Giddings, who optioned the media rights to The Secret World in 2012, had been developing the project with Sarkar from its inception.

    “It’s one of the most character driven and well developed games I know of and naturally lends itself to fantastical storylines with intriguing characters, a thrilling and binge-worthy international TV show,” Giddings said.

    Added Sarkar, “From the moment Gudrun first brought this to me, I loved this property. I live for conspiracy theory. I don’t believe it, but I love it. This is the secret story of the people who rule the people who rule the world.”

    The project was packaged by CAA.

    The Secret World is the latest video game franchise to be developed as TV series. It follows Myst, a drama series based on the classic 1990s video game, which was given a script-to-series commitment at Hulu. And Paramount TV and Anonymous Content optioned the rights to the Battlefield video game property to adapt as a TV series.

    Johnny Depp’s Ex-Biz Managers Cite More Examples Of Actor’s Overspending In New Court Docs

    The legal fight about who is to blame for Johnny Depp’s financial troubles took a new turn when Depp’s former managers filed an amended cross-complaint today in Los Angeles Superior Court. In the oft-redacted filing, The Management Group’s lawyers cite new expenses incurred by Depp that they say proves it was the actor who mismanaged his money.

    Depp sees it the other way, originally suing TMG in January for $25 million alleging 11 complaints ranging from fraud to breach of contract to professional negligence. Depp claims TMG paid itself more than $28 million in contingency fees without a written agreement; failed to file or pay his taxes on time, resulting in more than $5.6 million in fees and penalties on his federal returns; and “loaning” nearly $10 million to third parties without Depp’s authorization.

    Today’s amended cross-complaint came after a hearing earlier this month in which Judge Teresa Beaudet denied TMG’s desire for declaratory relief that Depp “caused his own financial waste” but ruled that its claim of promissory fraud against the Oscar nominee can stand. It cites Depp’s “ultra-extravagant lifestyle” over the 17-year period TMG repped the actor, a lifestyle that “knowingly cost Depp in excess of $2 million per month to maintain, which he simply could not afford.” In addition to previous examples of un-repaid loans and debts, it cited having to eventually pay off a Visa credit card to the tune of $55,000. (Read the entire cross-complaint here.)

    “Today TMG filed its amended Cross-Complaint, which includes the mirror image of Johnny Depp’s tenth claim for declaratory relief,” wrote TMG attorney Michael Kump of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP. “Depp’s exorbitant spending remains at the center of this case. The Cross-Complaint is being redacted because Depp is doing everything in his power to hide the identity of the friends and family to whom TMG supposedly distributed money without his authorization. Depp knows how ridiculous he will look when these false allegations are publicly disclosed.”

    The case is set to go before a jury on January 24 next year.

    Johnny Depp, Charlie Sheen and Kevin Dillon Have Platoon Reunion 31 Years Later

    (Pic) Once a platoon, always a platoon...

    It's been over 31 years since Oliver Stone's classic 1986 film Platoon hit theaters. Three of the movie's stars, Johnny Depp, Kevin Dillon and Charlie Sheen, who were budding young actors at the time, may not be fresh faces in Tinsel Town any more, but they're definitely famous ones and it looks like they're still hanging tough—together.

    Earlier today, Dillon, who went on to star in HBO's Entourage, posted a photo of the trio's reunion last night on Instagram. In the fun photo, the trio appear to be partying down at Depp's home in the Hollywood Hills. Depp is pictured smoking while wearing a Johnny Cash shirt, Dillon is smiling wide and Sheen wears a bright red Hawaiian shirt.

    Dillon captioned the photo, "Platoon 30 year #reunion last night at #johnnydepp house #goodtimes @charliesheen."

    The movie, which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1987, follows a young Vietnam recruit, Private First Class Chris Taylor, played by Sheen, as he faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and man's duality.

    In the iconic film, Dillon played "Bunny." Depp took on the role of the translator Lerner. Interestingly enough, much of Depp's work in the movie was actually left on the cutting room floor. From getting chopped to blockbuster superstar Jack Sparrow, Depp's had quite the cinematic ride since 1986.

    Prior to Platoon, Sheen had appeared in several smaller films like Red Dawn, Lucas and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but had not nabbed a major role in a major film yet. But all that changed when he was cast in Stone's star-making vehicle. In 1987, Sheen took on the role of Bud Fox in the director's next film, Wall Street, and he cemented his short-lived place as one of Hollywood's leading men during the 1980s. Sheen's had some major career, health and addiction ups and downs since the '80s, but at least judging from the snap of last night, he's still having a grand old time...

    Meanwhile, Dillon went on to appear in a host of small-budget films and television roles, working consistently over the decades. But it wasn't until he nabbed the role of Johnny Drama on Entourage in 2004 did the actor get some major notoriety.

    A plethora of other young talent signed on for Stone's controversial anti-war flick, which scored a total of four Oscars.

    Platoon also starred Tom Berenger, Keith David, Willem Dafoe and Forest Whitaker Stone himself even had a small and uncredited cameo.

    Platoon was Stone's first in his trilogy of Vietnam War films, which included Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993).

    Johnny Depp’s Ex-Biz Managers Can Still Go After Actor For Fraud, Judge Rules

    Johnny Depp today took two steps forward and a significant step back in his $25 million legal battle with his former business managers over the Pirates Of The Caribbean star’s finances.

    While denying for now The Mandel Company’s desire for declaratory relief that Depp “caused his own financial waste,” a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Monday ruled that business manager’s claim of promissory fraud against the Oscar nominee in its countersuit can stand as the financially lurid case moves forward — though potentially much less salacious

    After listening to arguments from lawyers on both sides in a demurrer from Depp’s team at a hearing downtown this morning, Judge Teresa Beaudet stood by most of her tentative ruling on the matter, first filed by Depp on January 13 with allegations of “gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud” over the actor’s long-term relationship with the company also known as The Management Group. With the matter moving forward after today’s hearing, the case is still set to go before a jury on January 24 next year — unless a settlement deal is struck before then.

    Beaudet on Monday also agreed that some of the most revealing and seeming excessive examples of Depp’s use of his money are not really part of this case, after all. “The pages of allegations of Depp’s allegedly outrageous spending clearly have no relevance to the 5% commission allegedly owed TMG from the Pirates Of The Caribbean payout, or to the final work done by TMG on transitioning their files to Depp’s new representatives,” the judge said, striking that material. Of course, being that a giant spotlight has already been put on said spending, it is not like it will disappear from public memory. Additionally, such material could find a new home in future filings as these things tend to.

    “TMG has not indicated how it can amend the declaratory relief cause of action,” Beaudet’s tentative on the matter also noted on the mainly technical issue of the relief. “Unless it provides some appropriate basis for so doing at the hearing, the demurrer is sustained without leave to amend.”

    Still, Beaudet will let the declaratory relief claim be restated by TMG’s lawyers. “We can allege the mirror flip of that,” said TMG lawyer Suann Macisaac on Monday in arguing against the tentative, successfully seeking permission to amend the claim based on the fact Depp made a similar claim in his initial suit. The court altered the tentative to give TMG’s attorneys 10 days to amend and Depp’s side 30 days to respond.

    “Today’s ruling was a clear victory for The Management Group because the Court ruled in favor of our fraud claim,” said reps for TMG in a statement today. “We intend to file an amended cross complaint for declaratory relief. All of the issues regarding Depp’s extravagant spending continue to be fully included in the case.”

    “The Court also does not find that TMG’s allegations in its promissory fraud cause of action are based on duties arising from any previous agreement between the parties, and do not lie in tort,” the judge added of the other main issue of contention at stake Monday. “Contrary to Cross-Defendants’ contentions, TMG has not simply alleged that it was not paid for its services, thus constituting a breach of contract,” she noted in her tentative of earlier today. “Instead, TMG alleges additionally that all during the final two weeks of March while TMG was working to transition the files, in an effort to induce the completion of the work, Cross-Defendants perpetrated a fraud in misrepresenting repeatedly that they intended to pay when the transition was complete.”

    TMG’s claims of breach of contract were not part of the dismissal motion before the court today.

    Based supposedly on discoveries into his finances by his new business managers, Depp’s lawsuit of earlier this year alleged 11 complaints ranging from fraud to breach of contract to professional negligence. It claims TMG paid itself more than $28 million in contingency fees without a written agreement; failed to file or pay his taxes on time, resulting in more than $5.6 million in fees and penalties on his federal returns; and “loaning” nearly $10 million to third parties without Depp’s authorization or proper documentation.

    At a hearing in late May, the judge allowed Depp’s side to file a new amended complaint which can include so-called whistleblower testimony from an ex-employee of TMG. That new complaint has not been submitted to the court as of yet.

    In TMG’s initial countersuit filed January 31 and full of multi-million dollar details of the actor’s alleged extravagances and over-spending, Depp’s former biz managers claimed the company “did everything within its power over the last 17 years to protect Depp from himself and to keep Depp financially solvent.” The filing also noted that the actor himself is to blame for his supposed financial woes, citing examples such spending as $3 million to shoot Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes out of a cannon a dozen years ago and the $2 million he spends every month on every day expenses, which were often the least intriguing of the pay-outs.

    “Contrary to Depp’ s recent public statements that his exorbitant purchases were him ‘investing’ his own money,” an amended compliant of May 1 added says, “Depp’s extravagant spending has often been marked by a lack of impulse control and often increased immediately after Mandel would confront Depp regarding his finances.”

    The case is being handled for Depp, who last year signed with CAA after a 30-year stint at UTA, by lawyers at at bi-coastal firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLC. And Adam Waldman of the DC-based Endeavor Law Firm. Michael Kump and Suann Macisaac of Santa Monica’s Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP are representing TMG in the matter.

    ‘True Crime Addict’ Book Getting Series Adaptation By Universal TV With Richard Price Writing & Johnny Depp Producing

    Universal Television and Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil have teamed for a drama series based on James Renner’s memoir True Crime Addict, which was written on spec by The Night Of co-creator Richard Price.

    True Crime Addict, which is intended for cable and digital networks and will be taken out to buyers shortly, is in the hot true-crime genre, whose foray into the cultural zeitgeist started on the documentary side with Netflix’s Making A Murderer, HBO’s The Jinx and the Serial podcast before migrating to the scripted series space with FX’s The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and NBC’s upcoming Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.

    Published last year, Renner’s True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself In The Mysterious Disappearance Of Maura Murray, which had been compared to David Fincher’s Zodiac, follows investigative journalist Jimmy Hunter. His lifelong obsession with cold cases leads him to research feverishly the whereabouts of a popular college student whose car was found abandoned in rural upstate New York. While Jimmy’s all-consuming quest for the truth begins to devour him body and soul, he must also strive to keep it from tearing apart his young and fragile family.

    Universal TV landed rights to the book, with Infinitum Nihil attached, in a competitive situation. The studio then reached out to Price, who loved it and came on board to adapt it. He wrote the script as a spec, which now will be shopped.

    In addition to writing, Price executive produces with Renner and Infinitum’s Depp, Christi Dembrowski, and Norman Todd for Universal Television.

    Price co-created and executive produced HBO’s The Night Of and serves as an executive producer on the network’s new drama series The Deuce, reuniting with frequent collaborator David Simon. Price is the author of such novels as Clockers, Lush Life and The Whites. His film screenplays include The Color Of Money, which earned him an Oscar nomination; Sea of Love; and Ransom.

    Johnny Depp Apologizes For Presidential Assassination Quip

    Johnny Depp has apologized for his statement made during his appearance Thursday at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, where he joked about presidential assassination.

    He told People magazine today that he “intended no malice” and “was only trying to amuse.”

    “I apologize for the bad joke I attempted last night in poor taste about President Trump,” he said in the statement. “It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone.”

    The Pirates of the Caribbean star’s crack that referenced President Donald Trump was made to the crowd at the English festival, which he was attending as the inaugural “Guest of Honour” for its new drive-in movie attraction Cineramageddon.

    “Can we bring Trump here? … I think he needs help,” he said, then added, “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?” The line drew mostly cheers and a few boos.

    He soon clarified: “I’m not an actor. I lie for a living.”

    The White House today condemned the comments: “President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and it’s sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead. I hope that some of Mr. Depp’s colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric as strongly as they would if his comments were directed to a democrat elected official.”

    The Secret Service also confirmed to media outlets today that it knows about the comments.

    Johnny Depp Jokes About Donald Trump: “When Was The Last Time An Actor Assassinated A President?”

    (Video) Keep an eye on the Sparrow? Well, the Secret Service might be having a little chat with one Johnny Depp after the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s joke about President Donald Trump went over like a lead zeppelin Thursday at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England.

    Speaking to the crowd from a stage, Depp said: “Can we bring Trump here? … I think he needs help.” That’s OK so far, but the one-time Lone Ranger went on to crank it up to 11, drawing mostly cheers and a few boos by asking, “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?”

    He soon clarified: “I’m not an actor. I lie for a living.” Check out the clip above.

    And the Razzie goes to …

    The actor — Depp, we mean, not John Wilkes Booth — was the inaugural “Guest of Honour” at the festival’s new drive-in movie attraction Cineramageddon. He was there to introduce a screening of his 2004 movie The Libertine, which was filmed in and around Somerset. Depp has been something of a gossip-rag football (soccer ball?) lately, between his messy, very public divorce from Amber Heard and an also-very-public legal feud with his business managers, who claim that his “extravagant spending has often been marked by a lack of impulse control.”

    Johnny Depp Team Emails Made Public In Lawsuit Detail Lavish Paydays & Debt

    A fight that began when Johnny Depp sued his longtime business managers for more than $25 million for mismanaging his finances for almost two decades took another heated turn today. As part of a motion to oppose Depp’s lawyers’ attempts to quash deposition subpoenas intended to obtain records related to the case, the management team made public key correspondences from Depp’s lawyers at Bloom Hergott, his UTA agent, as well as Depp’s sister who The Management Group says was considered “Depp’s personal manager, primary representative and gate-keeper.”

    The filing by lawyers for TMG (read it here) in Los Angeles Superior Court includes 11 exhibits which they say shows Depp and his inner circle were fully aware of the financial difficulties of one of the world’s biggest movie stars. The mostly email correspondences that show back-and-forths with lawyers, managers, agents, bankers, Depp’s sister Christi Dembrowski and even Depp that among other things detail how his accounts were overdrawn by nearly $4 million in late 2009, and he was near a deal to borrow $1.98 million more from City National Bank in 2015.

    In one exhibit, TMG principal Joel Mandel went directly to Depp in December 2009 with his concerns, with Depp’s reply the next day suggesting he had a plan to cover the shortfall with a string of movie paydays that he said included $20 million for The Tourist, $35 million for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and $20 million for Dark Shadows.

    On December 6, 2009, Mandel wrote to Depp:

    Johnny…

    I wanted to be sure to reach out to you, personally, before you left. Since my email to you in September, I have done what 1 was told you wanted done, meaning, “getting us through” financially until work could start again. The good news is that, so far, we have been able to do that. Notwithstanding, I need your help in a variety of ways. First, we need to “take it easy” on holiday spending. Second, we need to discuss some dollar limit in the upcoming Dillinger auction. Third, I need to be able to sit with you on your return from this trip, and before you leave for France, so that we can talk about where we are financially, what we have borrowed in order to sustain ourselves, what we have had to do to obtain those borrowings, what is now necessary to pay those borrowings back and, finally, to look realistically at income and expenses and to work together on how to make sure that these are back in balance.

    I know that things are hectic for you at the moment, but know that I am available, day or night, if you want to discuss any of this now.

    My best, and please travel safely…

    joel…

    The next day, Depp responded:

    dear joel=

    first, thank you for dealing and getting me through. secondly, i am doing my very best on holiday spending, but there is only so much i can do, as i need to give my kiddies and famille as good a Christmas as possible, obviously within reason. but, regarding the plane situation,., i don’t have all that many options at the moment. a commercial flight with paparazzis in tow would be a fucking nightmare of monumental proportions.

    forget the dillinger auction. don’t need it.

    know that i will be starting THE TOURIST, on or about the 15th of february; which will be 20 mil. i will then go, virtually, straight into PIRATCS 4, for 35 mil and then in turn to DARK SHADOWS for another 20 mil. i hope that by the amount that will be coming in from work in the coming year and also from back end proceeds, etc., will put everything straight.

    what else can i do??? you want me to sell same art??? i will. you want me to sell something else??? sure… what??? boat is going to be chartered at new years and sony will then charter it for the TOURIST shoot in venice. other than that, i got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings and some semblance of a soul left, where would you like me to start???

    i don’t like being in this situation, but there wasn’t a whole lot of choice, as THE RUM DIARY was a sacrifice we knew would be happening and the last proper paycheck was PUBLIC ENEMIES.

    i will do my best, joel.

    my love to you and yours=

    Johnny

    “Depp should be compelled to produce broad discovery relating to his finances, including discovery in the possession of two of the most critical witnesses in the action — Bloom Hergott and UTA,” today’s motion reads. “Moreover, given [her] substantial involvement in Depp’s financial affairs, Depp’s attempt to limit discovery regarding his sister’s knowledge is absurd.”

    Depp’s ex-business managers filed their countersuit on January 31, claiming the firm “did everything within its power over the last 17 years to protect Depp from himself and to keep Depp financially solvent.” It noted that the actor himself is to blame for his supposed financial woes, citing such extravagant spending as $3 million to shoot Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes out of a cannon a dozen years ago and the $2 million he spends monthly on expenses.

    Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil Signs First-Look Deal With IM Global

    Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil has signed a first-look feature film deal with IM Global. The deal, which comes as Depp’s fifth installment of the Disney franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales crossed the $600M global box office mark, was negotiated shortly before the Cannes Film Festival. The deal was done in tandem with IM Global’s commitment to finance and co-produce Depp’s next film, Richard Says Goodbye, the dramedy written and to be directed by Wayne Roberts (Katie Says Goodbye).

    Production on that project is set to start this summer and is being produced by Brian Kavanaugh-Jones of Automatik, and IM Global President of Production, Academy Award winner Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) with IM Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford and Depp on as executive producers.

    Depp’s company is run by an executive team of Depp, Christi Dembrowski, Sam Sarkar and Stephen Deuters.

    “Johnny is of course a globally recognized superstar but, as importantly, we at IM Global love Infinitum Nihil’s idiosyncratic and taste-driven view of the movie-making world and the unique brand that Johnny, Christi and their team have developed,” said Ford. “We’re building this relationship in order to generate great movies for the global audience with a like-minded creative partner, and with IM Global’s reputation as a company that has enjoyed frequent success greenlighting bold films outside of the confines of the major studio system I feel certain that our newly extended filmmaking partnership with Infinitum Nihil will be a fruitful one.”

    IM Global’s relationship with Infinitum Nihil began last year when IM Global Television announced that it was developing a music-driven TV drama series about the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio based on Rick Hall’s autobiography The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame with Infinitum Nihil as producers along with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced.

    The IM Global first-look feature film deal was negotiated by Shapiro and Deborah Zipser, general counsel, on behalf of IM Global, and by CAA on behalf of Depp. CAA is also handling the domestic distribution rights to Richard Says Goodbye.

    Johnny Depp Heads To Glastonbury

    Johnny Depp is headed to this year’s Glastonbury Festival where he’ll be the inaugural “Guest of Honour” at Cineramageddon, a new five day film fest set within the epic music event. Conceived and curated by director Julien Temple, Cineramageddon will screen films onto the biggest cinema screen in Britain with the audience seated in a post-apocalyptic drive-in auditorium featuring mutated British and American cars and repurposed funfair rides. Depp will introduce his personal choice of films – The Libertine, Dead Man and Withnail & I – that will be screening through the night on June 22 and will discuss selections in person with Temple.

    Johnny Depp Blindsided by $40 Million in Loans Taken Out by Ex-Managers in His Name

    Johnny Depp had no idea his former management team used his assets to secure $40 million worth of loans to cover up years of mishandling his money ... according to new legal docs.

    As we reported, Johnny is suing TMG, his ex-business managers, for fraud ... and he says the damage was astronomical. In docs, Johnny says TMG started taking out the loans in 2006. The largest was $22 mil from City National Bank ... and Depp says the real screwjob was using HIS properties as collateral.

    Besides the loans, Depp says, in the suit, TMG played fast and loose with his cash ... including the time they forgot to cancel the lease on a hospice home for his ailing mother. He says that cost him $350k.

    One of Johnny's neighbors might be thrilled with his managers though. In docs, he says TMG paid the neighbor $3,000 per month starting in April 2007 ... to resolve a property dispute. Depp's pissed they never lifted a finger to see if there was even a real issue, they just kept paying ... to the tune of $320k.

    According to the docs, Johnny only discovered there was a problem when TMG told him in 2015 he would have to unload a chunk of his French property just to "remain solvent."

    Depp's suing to get back at least $25 million from TMG.

    Update: Attorney for TMG, Michael Kump, tells us, "Johnny Depp's outrageously false claim that he didn't know about $40 million in loans is beyond preposterous. Depp and his sister knew about each and every loan; Depp signed every document and spent all the loan proceeds.

    "Tellingly, Depp is now seeking to prevent all discovery from Tracey Jacobs of UTA and Jake Bloom of Bloom Hergott. Depp knows that these two critical witnesses will fully support TMG’s case and reveal Depp for the extraordinary liar and spendthrift that he is. It is no mystery why Depp is trying so hard to prevent this core discovery."

    Johnny Depp ally doesn’t really know him and lied on her résumé

    The woman who sided with Johnny Depp in the actor’s long-running legal battle against his former managers lied on her résumé and exaggerated the extent that she knows the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor, court papers unsealed on Friday revealed.

    Janine Rayburn, a former employee at The Management Group (TMG) turned possible whistleblower, has said the agency kept Depp in the dark about his alleged financial problems — and that the actor would have avoided getting into such financial straits if it had leveled with him.

    But under questioning, Rayburn admits she doesn’t know Depp and only met him for two seconds at a holiday party, and therefore doesn’t know if he would have slowed his spending if TMG had alerted him.

    Depp, who stars in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” owns 14 homes around the globe and allegedly spends $30,000 a month on wine as part of a posh lifestyle that became unsupportable.

    TMG loaned Depp money to cover his costs, it said.

    “You don’t know anything about him as a person, do you?” TMG’s lawyers asked her, according to the transcript of the deposition unsealed.

    “I do not,” she replied.

    “You don’t know whether or not he has a compulsion — compulsive spending habit, do you?”

    “I do not,” she said.

    After Depp sued TMG for $25 million, claiming the agency ripped him off, his ex-managers returned fire, denying the allegations and claiming Depp needs to see a shrink for a “compulsive spending” habit.

    The woman, who worked at TMG for two years, provided some support to back up Depp’s contention that TMG cheated him. For example, she was asked to notarize a document that had Depp’s signature on it, without the actor being present.

    “I said I didn’t feel comfortable doing it,” she said in the deposition. TMG lawyers claim there is no evidence to support her claim.

    Depp’s lawyers want to amend their $25 million lawsuit to include Rayburn’s evidence. TMG is fighting the move, claiming she violated her nondisclosure agreement in talking to Depp’s legal eagles.

    TMG also fought to keep the deposition under seal, saying Rayburn’s alleged lies could hurt its reputation.

    Rayburn’s admission that she exaggerated her Depp relationship and lied on her résumé could undercut her credibility.

    Adam Waldman, Depp’s lawyer who conducted the deposition, hit back on Friday, telling The Post that Rayburn managed Depp’s day-to-day affairs as an account manager.

    “Having failed to conceal from the public whistleblower testimony that reveals some of the egregious misconduct [Joel] Mandel [a TMG partner, as is his brother Rob] asked her to commit on Mr. Depp’s account, the Mandels now predictably focus their efforts on smearing their former employee, just as they have attempted to smear Mr Depp.”

    Depp’s lawyer continued: “The Mandels’ ‘everyone is lying’ defense in this fraud case is crumbling under the mounting body of evidence coming from multiple directions — whistleblowers, forensic accountants, lawyers and tax experts.”

    The California celebrity management firm said in an e-mailed statement “Rayburn only worked at TMG for a brief time and was fired seven years ago. Rayburn fully admitted that she has no idea what conversations took place between Depp and TMG regarding Depp’s financial situation. We welcome the opportunity to further question Ms. Rayburn in court, exposing her many lies.”

    In court documents filed on May 5, TMG lawyers suggest Rayburn lied “at least 12 times.”

    In the deposition, Rayburn admitted that she doesn’t have a business degree from California State University, Northridge, something she fudged on her resume. She also admitted to a personal bankruptcy after her husband lost his job.

    In unsealing the documents, the court judgment read: “It is not appropriate for the Court to seal any allegation that a party argues is false or misleading.”

    Amber Heard sex scenes played role in Depp divorce: suit

    “Jealous” Johnny Depp demanded former wife Amber Heard turn her back on a film with racy nude scenes during their troubled marriage, a new lawsuit claims.

    Producers for the unreleased Heard film, “London Fields,” claim it was Depp who pressured her to refuse to support it.

    The producers are suing Heard for $10 million for allegedly refusing to promote the movie and “falsely” claiming “she had not contractually agreed to allow the use of nudity” in it.

    Heard’s alleged in a countersuit that producers used a body double to shoot “pornographic” sex scenes and add them in.

    In the producers’ response to Heard’s suit they claim, “Heard’s misconduct . . . might have resulted, at least in part, from her tumultuous relationship with Mr. Depp, which was ongoing during the filming of ‘London Fields.’ ”

    And the producers believe, “The provocative nature of Heard’s femme fatale role in the film was a factor leading to her divorce from Depp.” They claim she had approved the sexy scenes but “reversed course, apparently under perceived or actual pressure from Depp (who, according to Heard, was extremely jealous).”

    Depp also lashed out against Heard over her co-star in the film, Billy Bob Thornton, writing his name in blood on a mirror. The suit says, “Heard has made numerous fantastical accusations against Depp, and reports of her alleged affair with co-star [Thornton] became so pervasive that Thornton issued a public denial.”

    Heard countersued producer Christopher Hanley and his wife, Roberta, alleging they used a body double for “an explicit pornographic sex scene.”

    Her legal team said: “Desperate people say desperate things. The utter failure of ‘London Fields’ is due to only one reason: the producers themselves . . . Their nefarious moves included illegally adding pornographic scenes with a body double resembling Amber Heard and a striptease scene with the same body double — deceitful moves expressly barred by her contract.”

    They added, “No respectable actor would promote this piece of garbage.”

    Depp’s rep said: “The dispute between the producers and Amber Heard has nothing to do with Johnny Depp. We are informed that the producers have also been sued by the director and another producer. The statements about Johnny are ridiculous.”

    Johnny Depp Continues ‘Pirates’ Surprise Tour, This Time At Disneyland Paris

    After his surprise visit to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland in California last month, Johnny Depp gave Disneyland Paris a jolt on Sunday as he disembarked in front of a galleon moored at the park’s Castle. Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (or Salazar’s Revenge as it’s known in some international markets) begins rollout on May 24, and there’s been no shortage of promotional events to go along with the fifth movie in the franchise.

    On May 4, tracking had Dead Men Tell No Tales raking in as much as $100M over the domestic Memorial Day Weekend. It’s been six years since On Stranger Tides released in a similar corridor and went on to gross over $1B worldwide, $804M from international.

    Disney is pulling out the stops to raise global awareness on the Joachim Rønning/Espen Sandberg-helmed pic. Last week, it had its world premiere amid much fanfare in Shanghai at Disney’s China resort. In Marne-la-Vallé outside Paris yesterday afternoon, Depp was joined by fellow cast members Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, the directors, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Depp was not in full regalia like he was in California, rather dancers and acrobats dressed as ghost pirates performed for the crowds.

    This was all ahead of the film’s European premiere at Gaumont Disney Village, which was simulcast to a dozen IMAX theaters across the continent. Local celebrities including Cécile de France, Nagui, Maréva Galanter, Frank Gastambide, Malik Benthala and Eric Judor also attended as well as a host of influencers.

    Johnny Depp To Be ‘King Of The Jungle’; IMR To Handle Foreign Sales At Cannes

    Johnny Depp will star in King of the Jungle, with IMR International handling foreign sales at Cannes and CAA repping domestic rights. The dark comedy, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, is based on a Wired magazine story about tech magnate John McAfee.

    King of the Jungle, from Condé Nast Entertainment, Zaftig Films, MadRiver Pictures, and Epic Entertainment, is based on Joshua Davis’ Wired article “John McAfee’s Last Stand” that chronicled the creator of the McAfee Antivirus software, made a fortune and then moved to the jungle in Belize.

    “There, he set-up a Colonel Kurtz-like compound of guns, sex and madness,” says IMR.

    Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski will write the script, and the film will be produced by Condé Nast’s Dawn Ostroff and Jeremy Steckler; Zaftig’s Ficarra, Requa and Charlie Gogolak; and Epic’s Joshua Davis. MadRiver’s Marc Butan and Epic’s Joshuah Bearman will executive produce.

    Depp is represented by CAA; Alexander and Karaszewski are represented by CAA and attorney Christine Cuddy; Requa and Ficarra are represented by CAA and attorney Jeff Frankel; Condé Nast Entertainment is represented by CAA and attorney Ziffren Brittenham; and Davis is represented by UTA and attorney Linda Lichter.

    The film joins IMR’s Cannes lineup The Sisters Brothers, Freak Shift and Dumplin’.

    Johnny Depp To Star In Wayne Roberts’ ‘Richard Says Goodbye’ For IM Global – Cannes

    Johnny Depp is set to star in Richard Says Goodbye, a comedy-drama from writer-director Wayne Roberts (Katie Says Goodbye). Stuart Ford’s IM Global is fully financing the project and commencing international sales in Cannes this month on what is sure to be one of the hottest projects of the market. CAA is repping domestic rights.

    Automatik’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, whose credits include Loving, Midnight Special and I Think We’re Alone Now, will produce with IM Global production head Greg Shapiro, the producer behind The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty.

    Story sees Depp play Richard, a world-weary college professor who is given a life-changing diagnosis and then decides to throw all pretense and conventions to the wind and live his life as boldly and freely as possible. With a biting sense of humor, a reckless streak and a touch of madness, he binges through every vice: smoking, drinking, sex, and hurling blunt insults at anyone who annoys him, giving him more pleasure than he’s had in years.

    This will be the second feature from Roberts, who wrote and directed 2016’s Katie Says Goodbye starring Olivia Cooke, Mireille Enos, Christopher Abbot, James Belushi and Mary Steenburgen. That film, which he wrote while still a student at NYU Tish School of the Arts (where he graduated magna cum laude, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and follows the story of a 17-year-old girl who turns to prostitution to fulfill her dream of a new life in San Francisco.

    Depp will next hit screens with his return as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which bows in the U.S. on May 26. He also stars in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express for Fox alongside Penelope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer and Judi Dench among others. He is currently starring with Forest Whitaker in LAbyrinth, a thriller from Good Films about the attempt to solve the murders of hip hop icons Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

    Depp is repped by CAA. Roberts is repped by CAA and Grandview.

    Johnny Depp As Jack Sparrow Makes Surprise Appearance At Pirates Of the Caribbean Disneyland Ride

    The Pirates of the Caribbean Disney movie franchise originated with the popular Disneyland ride, which served as a basis for the first film. And today, a month before the U.S. release of the fifth installment in the franchise, Dead Men Tell No Tales, the films’ star Johnny Depp made a surprise visit to the place that started it all.

    Depp, in full costume and makeup as his character, Captain Jack Sparrow, popped up in several places of The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in Disneyland, California, to the delight of stunned riders. Dozens of them posted videos and photos of the marketing stunt on Twitter, which lit up social media late Wednesday. (you can watch two videos below) In the clips, Depp is seen interacting with the crowd as his popular alter ego.

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will have its World Premiere at Shanghai Disney Resort on Thursday, May 11, Disney announced last night. The event marks the first time a Hollywood movie will premiere in Mainland China.

    Johnny Depp’s managers think he’s a ‘habitual liar’

    Johnny Depp’s former business managers say the star “is a habitual liar who denies responsibility for his own outrageous conduct” and “has himself to blame for his financial woes.”

    The statement from Management Group spokesman David Shane is the latest volley in a public battle between the actor and his one-time management team.

    Depp sued the Management Group and attorneys in January for more than $25 million, charging fraud and negligence. The Management Group countersued, saying Depp spent lavishly on homes, private jets, art and memorabilia in spite of its warnings.

    In comments to the Wall Street Journal for a story published Wednesday, he questioned why he wasn’t dropped as a client by his managers.

    Shane responded by saying Depp was “involved in every significant business decision during the 17 years TMG represented him.”

    ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ To World Premiere In Shanghai

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will have its swashbuckling World Premiere at Shanghai Disney Resort on Thursday, May 11, Disney announced tonight. The event marks the first time a Hollywood movie will premiere in Mainland China.

    Expected to attend the shindig are stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites, directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The screening for the fantasy action film will take place in the Walt Disney Grand Theatre at Disneytown.

    Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and follows Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) as he searches to find the Trident of Poseidon, while Captain Salazar (Bardem) focuses on eliminating as many pirates as possible.

    The movie was screened last month at CinemaCon, where it received generally positive reviews. The previous film, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, grossed over $1 billion globally.

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will be released on May 26.

    ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Promo: Orlando Bloom Returns As Will Turner

    (Promo) Will Turner is back in the latest promo for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

    Returning to the franchise since the third film, At World’s End, Orlando Bloom reprises his role as Captain of the Flying Dutchman. The last time audiences saw Turner was when his heart was carved out and placed in the Dead Man’s Chest, forcing him to take over Davy Jones’ post as captain. The ship is only allowed to venture ashore once every ten years.

    Dead Men Tell No Tales follows Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he searches to find the Trident of Poseidon, while Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) focuses on eliminating as many pirates as possible. Geoffrey Rush reprises his role as Captain Barbossa, Kevin McNally as Gibbs, and Stephen Graham as Scrum. Kaya Scodelario and Brenthon Thwaites also co-star.

    The fifth installment of the Pirates franchise is co-directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, with Jerry Bruckheimer producing. The executive producers are Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Joe Caracciolo, Jr. and Brigham Taylor. Jeff Nathanson wrote the screenplay.

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales arrives in theaters on May 26. Check out the latest promo above.

    ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Trailer: Jack Sparrow Battles His Past & Ghost Sharks

    (Trailer) Disney has dropped the new trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, giving viewers a look at the return of swashbuckling hero Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) and its new villain, Captain Salazer (Javier Bardem). And it looks like Jack and his new crew, Carina (Kaya Scodelario) and Henry (Brenthon Thwaites) have their work cut out for them. Not only will they have to face Salazer, who is hellbent on catching Sparrow, a man from his past, but they’re also up against his entire band of ghost sailors who have escaped the Devil’s Triangle to murder all the pirates at sea.

    But wait, there’s more – ghost sharks. Oh yes, ghost sharks.

    Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg co-direct and Geoffrey Rush also stars. Disney is releasing the fifth instalment of the Pirates franchise on May 26, 2017. Check out the new trailer above.

    Johnny Depp parties at Madonna’s exclusive post-Oscars bash

    Hollywood recluse Johnny Depp was a surprise guest at Madonna’s ultra-exclusive after-party.

    Sources tell us Depp — who has been lying low after his bruising divorce from Amber Heardfollowed by his headline-making legal battle with his business managers — showed up at Madonna’s party, thrown with her manager Guy Oseary at his Hollywood home.

    A source told us, “Johnny actually looked great. He looked well and relaxed. People were happy to see him. This is the hardest Oscar invitation to get, there was no media invited and the stars really kicked off their shoes and danced.”

    Madge got the crowd going with salsa dancing.

    Guests included Leo DiCaprio, who was introducing model Nina Agdal to other partygoers as “my girlfriend,” Katy Perry and boyfriend Orlando Bloom, Lana Del Rey, Jon Hamm, Ed Norton, Michelle Williams and Busy Phillips.

    Johnny Depp Says Ex-Managers Suing Him Is a Joke, IRS Docs Prove It

    Johnny Depp's ex-managers have a collective brass pair for suing him ... according to Johnny who says he has massive tax receipts to prove how much they screwed him.

    Depp and his old management firm, TMG, are locked in a huge legal battle -- first, Johnny said they defrauded him out of $25 million and then TMG filed a countersuit against him. But in new docs, Johnny says it's laughable they'd try to sue him.

    According to the docs, Johnny says TMG cost him more than $6 million in fines and penalties to the IRS from 2000 to 2015. He says the firm also dropped a seven-figure screw job on him for his California state taxes. To be clear, Depp's already paid the penalties, but he ain't happy about it.

    Depp says his new management discovered TMG's "negligence and misconduct" in 2016 -- it's one of the reasons he originally filed his fraud lawsuit last month.

    He's submitting the proof of bad performance to convince a judge to toss TMG's suit against him.

    Johnny Depp is so broke he had to fire his agent

    Johnny Depp is in such financial turmoil that he fired his longtime Hollywood agent, saying he couldn’t pay her any more commissions on his movie deals, and made a deal with a rival agency.

    Last October, Depp walked away from UTA’s Tracey Jacobs, the famed agent who in 1988 took him from TV’s “21 Jump Street” and made him into an international movie superstar.

    A Hollywood source said, “Depp told Jacobs and UTA he no longer wanted to pay their commissions. But they pushed back.” So the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star jumped ship to CAA, which gave him a sweeter deal.

    About CAA’s lower commissions, another source said, “They don’t do blue-light specials.” But as far as Depp’s finances, the agency was “sensitive to it when he signed.” On Depp leaving UTA, the insider added, “He was with Tracey Jacobs for a gajillion years — their relationship had run its course. He was looking for a change.” CAA and UTA declined to comment.

    Last week, it was revealed in documents filed by Depp’s business managers that he spends an astonishing $2 million a month. Among the examples of his excess were $75 million spent on 14 homes, $18 million on a luxury yacht, and $30,000 per month on wine. Plus, he blew $3 million on shooting the ashes of his hero, author Hunter S. Thompson, out of a cannon over Aspen, Colo. The claims were made in a countersuit filed by The Management Group, who acted as Depp’s legal, tax and accounting advisers from 1999 until he fired them last year. Depp sued TMG in January, claiming they collected $28 million in fees he never agreed to and tried to foreclose on his home.

    TMG insists they handled his money responsibly, warned him he was overspending, and “Depp, and Depp alone, is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today,” said TMG’s attorney Michael Kump in the cross-complaint.

    On Thursday, Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman said in a statement that TMG had “chosen to employ a reprehensible ‘blame the victim’ strategy in a transparent attempt to .?.?. deflect away from their malfeasance.”

    Depp’s rep didn’t get back to us.

    ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Invades Super Bowl With Johnny Depp

    (Video, Poster) Disney was mum all week about what they would air during the Super Bowl today, and astute folks had a sense it would be a brand new look at Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The last trailer that dropped for the fifth title in Disney’s mega-franchise didn’t show Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, but he arrived in full for today’s new spot. “A pirate’s life…” he says.

    Javier Bardem joins the action for this one, along with returning regulars Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush.

    Dead Men Tell No Tales opens on Memorial Day weekend, May 26.

    Johnny Depp’s Ex-Biz Managers Hit Back At “Absurd & False” $25M Fraud Lawsuit

    They said they were going to do it when the Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued them for fraud in a $25 million lawsuit earlier this month and today Johnny Depp’s former long time business managers The Mandel Company hit back at the Oscar nominee – with a cross-complaint of fraud and more of their own.

    “TMG did everything within its power over the last 17 years to protect Depp from himself and to keep Depp financially solvent,” states the jury trial seeking cross-complaint filed Tuesday in L.A. Superior Court by Michael Kump and Susan Macisaac of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP (read it here). “However, ultimately TMG did not have the power or ability to control Depp’s spending or his numerous other vices, or to force Depp to make wiser financial decisions.”

    “In his complaint, Depp claims that throughout his 17-year relationship with TMG, he was kept ignorant about his financial condition,” the filing asserts of the often repeated Hollywood star situation of mo’ money, mo’ problems. “That allegation is absurd and untrue,” the cross-complaint states. The six-claim filing essentially seeks more than $560,000 in unpaid commissions and credit card fees and, in a effort to cut short the actor’s big bucks lawsuit against TMG, a court declaration that The Mandel Company “complied with all of its fiduciary obligations under the law and that Depp is responsible for his own financial waste.”

    In his January 13 complaint, the Sweeney Todd actor and Hollywood Vampires guitarist alleges that TMG took him to the cleaners for tens of millions due to “gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud.” The filing by the actor and fellow plaintiff Edward L. White as trustees of the Mooh Investment Trust also claimed that TMG paid itself more than $28 million in contingency fees without a written agreement but failed to pay or file his taxes in time leading to big penalties and loaned millions to third parties without his consent, among other mishandling of the actor’s money

    TMG says, no way Captain Jack.

    “Depp further alleges in his complaint that he only learned about his financial problems in March 2016 when he hired Edward White of Edward White & Co., LLP in Woodland Hills, California,” the paperwork asserts of the timeline of events in this age old Hollywood tale of mo’ money, mo’ problems. “This charge is also false.”

    “For years, TMG repeatedly informed Depp and Dembrowski and personal lawyer Jake Bloom, that Depp was living beyond his means, and urged him to spend less and to sell certain expensive but unnecessary assets to repay loans and pay his taxes and living expenses,” the filing notes of the actor, his sister/personal manager Elisa Christie Dembrowski and Depp’s own lawyer.

    While it doesn’t go into how much the often well turned out actor spent on bandanas and hats, there’s apparently few other rocks unturned in the return salvo in this legal battle, the 31-page counter-suit is filled with multiple tales of “come to Jesus” meetings and potential solutions over Depp’s excessive and seemingly chaotic finances. For instance, his former agency UTA is revealed as having helped the actor borrow money from Bank of America in 20915 and others over the years, blunted attempts to sell property to meet obligations and there was an unheeded warning to get a prenup to his now dissolved marriage to Amber Heard, which ended in a multi-million dollar settlement in the summer of 2016 after a potential nasty public court face-off.

    Adding to the un-balanced sheet, there’s the more than “$75 million to acquire, improve and furnish 14 residences” around the world, $3 million to shoot Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes out of a cannon when the infamous writer died in 2005, full time personal security and “45 luxury cars.” Then there’s more with the likes of a vanity record label, $10 million a year to support an entourage of friends,family and personal employees, fine wines flown in from around the world at a cost of $30,000 a month, “millions to acquire and maintain a massive and extremely expensive art collection including over 200 collectible pieces and works by world famous artists such as Warhol, Klimt, Basquiat, and Modigliani,” and reports of loans from Disney, with up to 10% interest.

    “I am ready to face the music, in whatever way I must,” the cross-complaint proclaims Depp said in a text sent in October 2015 to a Mandel principal, with a $5 million loan from TMG itself allegedly hanging over his head too in a separate and still ongoing non-judicial foreclosure. “I know there’s a way to dig ourselves out of this hole and I am bound and determined to do it,” they claim Depp’s texted them. The business managers say this way out eventually became suing them to avoid the real costs, so to speak.

    “Over 30-years, TMG has never been sued by a client,” Kump told Deadline today on behalf of the well-known and widely used firm. “The only reason Depp filed this lawsuit was to interfere with TMG’s ongoing efforts to be repaid on the loan they had made to bail him out,” the attorney also said. “TMG worked day and night to professionally manage Depp’s business affairs, adhering to the highest standards.”

    In the filing Tuesday, Kump and Macisaac names Depp and White personally, limited partnership Edward White & Co., LLP, L.R.D. Productions, Inc and Scaramanga Bros. Inc., plus others as the defendants in this case.

    The now-CAA represented Depp is having this matter handled by a team of lawyers at at L.A-based firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLC.

    Johnny Depp Thanks Fans Who ‘Stood By Me, Trusted Me’ at 2017 People’s Choice Awards

    Johnny Depp thanked fans for their support in a speech at the 2017 People’s Choice Awards on Wednesday night – just days after finalizing his tempestuous divorce from wife Amber Heard.

    While accepting the favorite movie icon award at the show’s close, Depp told the audience, “I came here for one reason tonight and one reason only. I came here for you, the people, who through whatever good times or bad, you know, have stood by me, trusted me. Thank you.”

    He added, “You’ve very, very graciously invited me here tonight. I appreciate that very much – you have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

    Depp, 53, was wed to Heard for 15 months before she filed for divorce last May and accused him of prolonged domestic abuse.

    The divorce was finally settled on Jan. 13, with a Los Angeles judge finalizing the pair’s previously agreed upon $7 million divorce settlement, which was to be donated to charity.

    The judge had denied Depp’s request to impose a $100,000 sanction on Heard for allegedly delaying the proceeding. Depp will also pay $500,000 toward Heard’s legal fees, according to court papers.

    “I was very deeply affected by the kindness of your recognition and by the well wishes to my family and to myself, which is why it’s especially meaningful to me to be here in front of you and say thank you,” Depp said during his Wednesday speech,”and tell you that I truly feel that need to thank you because in all honesty we all know that none of us, especially me, wouldn’t be standing up here if it wasn’t for you tonight.”

    He ended the show with a call-out to his late mother – who died in May 2015 – saying, “Give ’em hell, Betty Sue!”

    Earlier on Wednesday, Depp was spotted on the set of his upcoming film Labyrinth in Los Angeles. The actor is sporting a new mustache for his role as a detective who investigates the Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. murders.

    Heard also stepped out following the divorce finalization, grabbing a meal with friends in Los Angeles on Sunday.

    People's Choice Awards 2017 Winners

    Favorite Movie Icon: Johnny Depp

    Johnny Depp Sues Business Managers For $25M Over Fraud

    Like many an actor before him, Johnny Depp believes he has been swindled in the Hollywood accounting shell game — by his own business managers and lawyers. In a lawsuit filed today, the Pirates Of The Caribbean star is going after The Management Group for more than $25 million in a jury-seeking suit alleging fraud and several other claims.

    “As a result of years of gross mismanagement and sometimes outright fraud, Mr. Depp lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct,” reads the 52-page complaint (read it here) filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the actor and fellow Plaintiff Edward L. White as trustees of the Mooh Investment Trust.

    The lawsuit alleges 11 complaints ranging from fraud to breach of contract to professional negligence. It claims TMG paid itself more than $28 million in contingency fees without a written agreement; failed to file or pay his taxes on time, resulting in more than $5.6 million in fees and penalties on his federal returns; and “loaning” nearly $10 million to third parties without Depp’s authorization or proper documentation.

    “In essence, TMG treated Mr. Depp’s income as their own, available to either TMG or third parties to draw upon as desired,” read the complaint filed by attorneys at Los Angeles-based Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLC.

    “TMG’s gross mismanagement and fraud remained undetected as TMG borrowed millions of dollars to survive from movie-to-movie,” add the filing.

    “It was only recently, when Mr. Depp terminated TMG and hired new business management and accounting services, when Mr. Depp learned the gravity of his financial losses and some, but surely not all, of the underlying facts,” the complain states bluntly, also adding that the management firm is seeking foreclosure on Depp’s primary home through a loan the actor says came from TMG’s own self-dealing.

    In addition to the more than $25 million sought in compensatory damages, the suit asks for a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction enjoining the Defendants from proceeding with the foreclosure on the home.

    Depp, recently in the courts for his high-profile divorce from Amber Heard last summer, is plenty busy. He recently shot Open Road’s cop drama LAbyrinth, joined 20th Century Fox’s Murder On The Orient Express, and will co-star in Warner Bros’ follow-up to Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Of course, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales bows worldwide May 26.

    He also in the fall signed with CAA after a three-decade run at UTA.

    Johnny Depp, Amber Heard Divide All the Goodies in Divorce

    Johnny Depp gave Amber Heard more than $7 million in their divorce settlement ... she also gets doggies Pistol and Boo, Arrow the horse and a Mustang (Ford, that is).

    Don't feel too sorry for Johnny. He keeps all of his properties, scattered all over the globe ... L.A., Colorado, Kentucky, the Bahamas and France. He also gets to keep his 42 vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, boats and golf carts.

    As for the $7 mil, Johnny has already paid $200k. He owes $1 million more 3 days from Friday. He'll owe another mil next month, another mil in May, and still another mil in August. And then there's $500k in August and finally $2.3 mil in February 2018.

    And that's all she wrote.

    Amber Heard, Johnny Depp Divorce Final, Finally

    Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will be single before dinnertime, because the judge is about to seal the deal and make their divorce final.

    Amber was trying to delay the final divorce so she could take Johnny's deposition, but the judge turned thumbs down in a hearing Friday, saying enough was enough.

    TMZ broke the story ... Johnny had agreed to pay Amber $7 million to settle the divorce, but Amber attempted to renegotiate the settlement. The judge ruled the $7 mil settlement stood, and that's what she'll get.

    Johnny's lawyers asked the judge to impose a $100k sanction on Amber for delaying the proceeding, but the judge rejected that. She wanted Johnny to pay her attorney's fees but the judge said each should foot their own bills.

    Amber Heard Responds to Johnny Depp's Request for Monetary Sanctions: I Want My Life Back

    Amber Heard is responding to Johnny Depp after the actor requested $100,000 in court sanctions from his ex.

    In official documents obtained by E! News, the Justice League star assured the court that she has been committed to a quick resolution of her divorce. But according to the actress, "Johnny and his counsel seem to wish to prolong this proceeding as a means of punishing me."

    "I am now told that Johnny is taking outrageous steps of seeking legal fees from me because I have asked the court to enforce the settlement agreement that we reached four months ago," she wrote. "I am told that Johnny somehow claims I am the one who is delaying settlement rather than the other way around. These claims are contemptible and shocking."

    Amber added, "Johnny has delayed the resolutions of this matter. I want my life back. I want to be divorced from Johnny now."

    Back in December, Johnny's team filed court documents alleging that Amber "continues to needless litigate a case which has been settled, all while parading in front of the media in a desperate attempt to extend her fifteen minutes of fame."

    In the event that Amber fails to contribute $100,000 to Johnny's attorney's fees and costs as sanctions, Johnny asked that he be allowed to deduct the same from his next equalization payment.

    Amber's attorney would later tell E! News that the move was "another lame attempt by Mr. Depp and his team to not pay my client the money she is owed."

    Back in August, the former couple agreed to a $7 million settlement, all of which would be donated by Johnny to the ACLA and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, per Amber's request.

    In the midst of her divorce drama, Amber was able to step out at The Art of Elysium presents Stevie Wonder's HEAVEN event at Red Studios in Los Angeles this weekend. She also attended W magazine's It Girls Luncheon.

    Johnny Depp Tells Judge Amber Heard Just Wants Her 15 Minutes

    Johnny Depp is scoffing at Amber Heard's attempt to get more from him than they agreed in their divorce settlement, and he's telling the judge she just wants to stay relevant and sway public opinion.

    Johnny filed legal docs saying a deal is a deal, and they already agreed on the $7 million settlement months ago. Amber recently filed legal docs asking for more, but Johnny says that ship has sailed.

    Johnny's lawyer, Laura Wasser, says Amber's move is "a blatant attempt to extend her fifteen minutes of fame" and "an embarrassing grab for additional and unwarranted attorney's fees." Amber is also asking to reopen the $7 million settlement.

    Amber Heard's Legal Team Fights Back as Johnny Depp Refuses to Finalize $7 Million Divorce Settlement

    Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have reached a speed bump in their ongoing divorce saga.

    Back in August, the former couple agreed to a $7 million settlement, all of which would be donated by Depp to the ACLU and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, per Heard's request. But now, in legal documents obtained by E! News, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor seems to be pushing back against finalizing the agreement.

    Amber's legal team filed a Request for Order with the Los Angeles Superior Court in hopes of imposing the settlement and expediting Depp's payment. Attorney fees and costs up to $35,435 are also being requested.

    Additionally, the actress' attorneys claim Depp has failed to comply with the court-allotted timeline of various mandates, including the division of personal property, shipping her belonging from his private island in the Bahamas, transferring a Range Rover into Heard's name and Depp's outstanding debts incurred from cars, Neil Lane jewelry and stylist fees.

    In a declaration written by Heard and included in the documents, she makes a number of less-than flattering claims about her ex-husband and alleges that he broke the agreement by paying the initial $200,000 donation to the charities as opposed to Amber directly.

    "Instead, when Johnny learned that I planned to donate my entire marital settlement to charities, Johnny purported to satisfy his obligation to pay me by supposedly paying the charities I selected instead of me," she writes.

    Heard continues, "He also claimed that I violated the confidentiality provisions of the [Deal Point Memorandum] by announcing that I was donating my settlement to charities. In fact, I made those donations in good faith and I was responding to the leaks by Johnny's agents bragging that I had settled for substantially less than a reported, earlier offered sum and attempting to label me a gold digger."

    The 30-year-old also refers to many tabloid stories she believes were planted by the actor's team and are defamatory in nature, thus violating the exes' DPM.

    Since Amber and Johnny's year-long marriage came to an end in May of this year, the actress has stayed mostly quiet about the domestic abuse allegations she made against the 53-year-old until very recently.

    In late November, Heard teamed up with the #GirlGaze Project to create an emotionally-charged PSA, in which she fights back tears while discussing her connection to the topic. Then earlier this week, she penned a moving essay for Porter magazine urging victims of abuse to speak out against their attackers.

    "You are not alone. You may have suffered alone behind closed doors, but you are not alone. You need to know that. I want to remind you of your strength, a strength that has been multiplied by the number of women who stand silently behind you—a truth that allowed me to break down the doors I once found myself behind," she wrote.

    Amber does not refer to Johnny by his name in either piece.

    Johnny Depp spotted looking ‘depressed and lonely’

    Divorce seems to have hit Johnny Depp hard.

    The brooding actor, who has just gone through a difficult divorce with Amber Heard, was spotted at Hollywood hot spot the Sunset Tower Hotel on Friday.

    A fellow patron tells us, “He was alone, but with two bodyguards, sitting out by the pool, looking depressed and lonely, smoking a cigar.”

    Depp was just named the most overpaid actor in Hollywood for the second year running by Forbes, based on his box-office returns.

    Johnny Depp, Sam Raimi & Others Contribute To Film By 16-Year Old Cancer Patient

    A group of A-list talent came together in November to help 16-year old cancer patient Anthony Jonathan Conti fulfill his dream of writing and starring in his own film. Johnny Depp, J.K. Simmons, Laura Dern, Penelope Ann Miller, Chad Coleman, and Richard Chamberlain were joined by David Lynch, Catherine Hardwicke, Theodore Melfi, Sam Raimi, Peter Farrelly, and Sean Furst for The Black Ghiandola, a post-apocalyptic zombie story about a young man whose family has been killed, who risks his life to save a young girl he has grown to love. Filming took place November 18-20.

    Conti, diagnosed this summer with stage 4 Adrenal Cortical Cancer, stars in and co-wrote the film with Scott Kosar (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), with additional writing by Wash Westmoreland (Still Alice). The production was made possible by the Make A Film Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2007 that helps children enduring serious or life-threatening medical conditions to create short film legacies by teaming them with industry professionals who volunteer their time.

    Rami, Hardwicke, and Melfi contributed as directors, with Farrelly and Furst serving as supervising producers. Hollywood Make A Film Foundation founder Tamika Lamison produced alongside Adele Rene and Bettina Fisher.

    Along with Anthony’s father and grandmother, other contributions to the project were made by Teamsters Local 399 drivers, Star Waggons, Wooden Nickel, Panavision, AMPAS, AMC, The Walking Dead, L.A. Grips, Plan U Prods., St. Joseph’s Hospital, Big Sky Ranch, Friar Tux, Nature’s Bakery, Gala Minasova’s Picture Car, Western Costumes, Essential Water, Cinepower & Light, Avon, Galpin, Quixote Rentals, Zio Rentals, Durable Medical Equipment Aid Society, Enterprise, Alex’s Catering, Skye Props, Boston Mass General, Bear Creek Restrooms, Ruskin School of Acting, Constantine FX, Bloodlust Unlimited, MovieInsure, Domino’s, Starbucks, and Warner Bros.

    Further information is available at the official site.

    Johnny Depp Divorce -- Amber's Getting $6.8 Mil, She'll Donate It ... Eventually

    Johnny Depp and Amber Heard finally hammered out their divorce settlement, and the charities she promised to fund will get their cash ... with a slight delay.

    Sources connected to the exes tell us Johnny will pay Amber $6.8 million -- that's the $7 mil originally agreed upon, minus the $200k he already donated to the ACLU and Children's Hospital L.A. in her name. We're told she'll get all the money within about 12 months.

    Amber will then follow through on her vow to donate ALL of her settlement dough. We're told she'll make multiple payments to CHLA and the ACLU ... with the plan being to pay the full amount by the end of 2018.

    Sources not connected with Amber are scoffing, saying they don't think the charities will ever get the money.

    Bottom line -- Johnny will get a charitable tax write-off for $200k, Amber will write-off her $6.8 mil worth of donations ... and they can both put the nightmare marriage and divorce behind them.

    People’s Choice Awards Nominees Set

    Here’s another election America must undertake: Voting opens today for the People’s Choice Awards 2017. Nominees were unveiled this morning at Paley Center in Los Angeles, with online voting set to run through December 15 and winners announced during a ceremony January 18 at Microsoft Theater L.A. Live and broadcast on CBS.

    FAVORITE MOVIE ICON
    Denzel Washington
    Johnny Depp
    Samuel L. Jackson
    Tom Cruise
    Tom Hanks

    Johnny Depp To Co-Star In J.K. Rowling’s ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Sequel At Warner Bros

    Johnny Depp is joining the cast of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, playing a co-starring role in the sequel which David Yates will direct early next year with Eddie Redmayne again in the lead role of Newt Scamander. I’ve confirmed this, but no one is saying exactly what role that Depp will play. But I believe that if you look carefully, you might spot him in a tiny turn in the first installment of the J.K. Rowling-created Harry Potter spinoff, which Warner Bros opens November 18. We’ll just have to wait and see how Depp complements the adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards, 70 years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

    Depp films the sequel and becomes part of the universe after he completes another ensemble, the Kenneth Branagh-directed Fox whodunit Murder On The Orient Express. This would come before Depp takes roles in Labryinth, the drama about the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, and before he stars as The Invisible Man. Depp, who was still at UTA when this was orchestrated, just recently moved to CAA.

    CAA Signs Johnny Depp, Ending Long Run At UTA

    Johnny Depp has signed with CAA, the agency announced this morning. This is a shocker, and an exceptional development on multiple levels starting with the fact that stars long tenured with one agency, who’ve carried billion-dollar franchises, don’t often move. Some will simply read this as a big “get” for CAA in a continuing rivalry with UTA that ratcheted up last year when nearly a dozen CAA agents jumped to UTA and took clients including Will Ferrell and rising star Chris Pratt. Others will see this as a star in a crisis moment making a course change after recent movies didn’t work, and a loud marital breakup cast him in an unflattering light in the tabloid cross hairs.

    Others who follow the dynamic between talent and reps will focus on the end of one of the most enduring relationships between an agent and a movie star. That would be the three-decade collaboration between Depp and his UTA agent Tracey Jacobs, who signed Depp after watching his heartthrob turn as baby-faced undercover cop Tom Hanson on the Fox series 21 Jump Street. Together, they transitioned Depp into a globally bankable movie star whose films have collectively grossed more than $7 billion. She was a ferocious advocate for Depp and they were indelibly linked, down to the gold plaque bearing her name that Depp displayed in a prime booth at The Viper Room, when he was part-owner of the Sunset Strip nightspot.

    His ascension to stardom was a neat trick in that Depp didn’t do it like most big stars, who played variations of the branded persona their audiences wanted to see. Depp brought an art house sensibility to mainstream movies, and he was willing to go all in to disappear into eccentric and distinctive characters, some inspired by influences in his life. That worked to the maximum effect when, much to the initial trepidation of Disney, he channeled Keith Richards into the ghostly, tipsy buccaneer Jack Sparrow in the multi-billion-dollar global grossing Pirates Of The Caribbean series. Less effective was the channeling of his gonzo journalist pal Hunter S. Thompson in the films The Rum Diary and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Along the way were lauded performances in dramas like Donnie Brasco, Blow and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and audaciously daring turns with director Tim Burton that included Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Alice In Wonderland. He was thrice nominated for Oscars, for Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Finding Neverland and Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl.

    Unfortunately, taking the risky road hasn’t been as kind to Depp in recent years. He has starred in numerous movies that were expensive and either under-performed or flat-out flopped. An expected return to Oscar form in Black Mass as Boston gangster Whitey Bulger didn’t resonate as strongly as was hoped. The failures that pleased neither audiences nor critics included Mortdecai, Transcendence, The Lone Ranger, and Alice Through The Looking Glass, the sequel to the billion-dollar grossing Burton-directed Alice In Wonderland (James Bobin directed the reprise). The last two were particular troubling: Disney famously put the brakes on The Lone Ranger to bring down the budget, but it still cost a reported $215 million and only grossed $265 million worldwide; the Alice sequel cost a reported $170 million and grossed $299 million worldwide, far from its predecessor. Another Burton collaboration, Dark Shadows, grossed $245 but cost a reported $150 million.

    Adding to those woes was an image hit to a notoriously private actor when when the he-said she-said ugly breakup of his marriage to actress Amber Heard exploded in the press. UTA wouldn’t comment on why Depp left, but historically, this kind of perfect storm of uncertainty creates insecurity for artists, and makes them vulnerable to other agencies that court stars on Depp’s level. CAA has fixated on Depp for a long time; after vacillating for the past week, he finally made the jump late last night.

    “We had a great 30-year run with Johnny and we wish him well,” said a UTA spokesman this morning.

    Depp’s signing is a coup for CAA because in an age where the star system has been de-emphasized by studios in favor of brands and concepts, stars who’ve registered strongly on a global scale like Depp are few and far between. The onus on CAA will be to rebuild his standing with big hits. The pieces are already in place for a potential second wind for the actor, and those commissions will stay with UTA. Depp reprises Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales next summer, and he is booked to play the iconic lead character in The Invisible Man, one of the linchpins in Universal’s plan to build new franchises from its classic movie monster library. He also recently signed on to star in Fox’s Murder On The Orient Express, a Kenneth Branagh-directed revival of the Agatha Christie whodunit that also stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley and Judi Dench. He also stars in Labyrinth, the Open Road drama that explores the murders of hip-hop stars Tupac Shaur and Notorious B.I.G.

    Depp continues to be managed by Christi Dembrowski, his sister and producing partner in Infinitum Nihil, and he’s lawyered by Jacob A. Bloom at Bloom Hergott.

    ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ First Teaser

    ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ First Teaser: Yo Ho Ho (Again): Video.

    Johnny Depp To Star in ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ At Fox

    An all-star cast, led by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Daisy Ridley, is joining director Kenneth Branagh on 20th Century Fox’s new feature film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s acclaimed mystery Murder on the Orient Express, it was announced today by TCF president Emma Watts.

    In addition to directing the film, Branagh, a five-time Academy Award®-nominee, will star as detective Hercule Poirot. Depp portrays Ratchett; Pfeiffer is Mrs. Hubbard and Ridley plays Mary Debenham.

    Oscar winner Judi Dench portrays Princess Dragomiroff, while Lucy Boynton is Countess Andrenyi. Tom Bateman plays Bouc, acclaimed stage actor and Tony winner Derek Jacobi portrays Masterman, Michael Pena is Marquez, and Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. plays Doctor Arbuthnot. The ensemble is nearly complete, but there are still a few key roles left to cast.

    Murder on the Orient Express begins production in November, in London.

    Commented Kenneth Branagh: “Christie’s ‘Murder’ is mysterious, compelling and unsettling. I’m honoured to have this fantastic group of actors bring these dark materials to life for a new audience”.

    Ridley Scott (The Martian), Simon Kinberg (The Martian, X-Men: Days of Future Past), Mark Gordon (Steve Jobs) and Branagh will produce the film. Michael Schaefer, Aditya Sood and Judy Hofflund will also produce. Michael Green (Blade Runner 2) wrote the screenplay, with Steve Asbell overseeing the production for Fox.

    Agatha Christie’s novel, published in 1934, is considered one of the most ingenious stories ever devised. It revolves around a murder onboard the famous train, and Belgian detective Hercule Poirot must solve the case – but there are a number of passengers who could potentially be the murderer.

    James Prichard and Hilary Strong, both of Agatha Christie Ltd., will executive produce.

    Prichard commented: “It is always thrilling for us to see the stellar casting that Agatha Christie film adaptations attract. It is fantastic to have Kenneth Branagh at the helm of this new adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express and we are extremely excited about the cast he is bringing aboard”

    KORN, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, SAMMY HAGAR To Perform At 'Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding'

    KORN and HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES will perform at the 15th annual Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding, set to take place Saturday, December 3 at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. Also scheduled to appear are GIN BLOSSOMS, Sammy Hagar, Las Vegas illusionist and magician Murray SawChuck and the winners of this year's Proof Is In The Pudding musical talent search.

    Tickets are $120-$225, with VIP tickets starting at $650. They go on sale on Friday, September 30 at 10 a.m.

    Proceeds from the event will once again benefit Cooper's Solid Rock Teen Center, whose mission is to "allow teens to build confidence and discover their passion through music, dance, self-expression and creativity" in a "creative sanctuary for troubled teens."

    Cooper explained his vision for the center in an interview with AZCentral.com: "You get 100 kids in there, that's 100 kids off the street that aren't being influenced by drugs or gangs or guns, you know? If you take one kid that was gonna be in jail or in a gang or dead and he's playing guitar now in a band? You don't just change that kid. You change that neighborhood. Those neighborhoods know everybody. All of the sudden, here's a kid that's not going the route he's supposed to go. He's in a band. He's coming to this place. And I think they actually look up to that kid. Because he's broken the chain."

    The Solid Rock Teen Center, built in partnership with Cooper's Solid Rock Foundation and Genesis Church, opened in 2012 after more than a decade of Cooper raising funds to build it with his annual Christmas Pudding concert.

    Johnny Depp Circling ‘LAbyrinth’ To Play LAPD Detective Russell Poole

    Johnny Depp is circling Labyrinth, a project where he would play the play the controversial LAPD homicide detective Russell Poole who investigated the deaths of both Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. However, sources said that he is looking at a number of projects rights now. This one, via Good Universe with Brad Furman attached to direct, would go in November and there is a script adaptation by Christian Contreras, but no deal in place with Depp as of yet. LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records’ Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal was written by Randall Smith who recounts Russell Poole’s investigation and the discovery of the relationships between members of the LAPD and Death Row Records. Many people have discounted Poole’s allegations. The retired cop died last year. Depp is also attached to The Invisible Man at Universal. The Pirates of the Caribbean star also has another installment of the wildly popular films on the horizon — Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales which Disney will release Memorial Day next year as one of its tentpoles.

    Marilyn Manson Says Johnny Depp Was 'Unjustly Crucified' in Divorce

    Marilyn Manson is coming to the defense of his longtime pal Johnny Depp following abuse allegations from his now ex-wife Amber Heard.

    In a teaser released for an interview with the Daily Beast, Manson reveals how close he is with the actor.

    "Lily-Rose is my goddaughter and I was there when [his son] Jack was born, so we go back," said Manson. "Johnny is one of the nicest people that I know – to the extent where it's almost heartbreaking how kind he is to his friends, and everyone around him. I know that he was completely crucified – unjustly.

    "I would stand by him on anything," Manson continued. "As my friend, I know that he's handling it the best he can and he's a great dad, too. It fills me with joy to see his kids grow up and be so smart, and so hilarious. We played a show together not too long ago. It's hard to say when you talk about your friends. Of course I think that all of it was bullshit, and I think that he is a great person. I wouldn't agree with any of it if someone were to put me on the stand and ask me what I know, or what I've witnessed."

    Heard, 30, was granted a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband in May after claiming Depp, 53, abused her during their relationship. She filed the request shortly after filing for divorce from the actor after 15 months of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.

    In her court filing accusing Depp of domestic violence, Heard stated "there was one severe incident in December 2015 when I truly feared for my life." Depp's divorce attorney previously said in response to Heard's request for a protective order that "Amber is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

    No criminal charges were ever brought against Depp and a judge dismissed the restraining order and the domestic violence case against the actor after the former couple agreed on a settlement deal.

    "Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love," the pair said in a joint statement to PEOPLE following their settlement. "Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity."

    Johnny Depp & Amber Heard In New Dispute Over $7M Divorce Settlement

    At this stage, you could call the latest legal brouhaha between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard – Settlement: The Reckoning. A week after Heard announced she was donating to charity the $7 million she received in the August 16 divorce settlement between the two of them, the divorcing Pirates of the Caribbean actor and Justice League actress are now at loggerheads about how that money should be paid out and even how much.

    “Amber Heard appreciates Johnny Depp’s novel interest in supporting two of her favorite charities, the ACLU for domestic violence and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles,” said a statement from Heard’s camp today ‘This is great and unexpected news.”

    “However, if Johnny wishes to change the settlement agreement, we must insist that he honor the full amount by donating $14M to charity, which, after accounting for his tax deduction, is equal to his $7M payment obligation to Amber,” the statement adds of the organization which Heard has long supported and, in the case of the Children’s Hospital, even volunteered at for a decade. “We would also insist that the full amount be paid immediately and not drawn out over many years. Anything less would be a transparent attempt by Johnny’s counsel, Laura Wasser and Patti Glaser, to reduce their client’s true payment by half under the guise of newfound concern for charities that he has never previously supported.”

    Basically Depp decided to hand the cash over directly to Heard’s chosen charities of the American Civil Liberties Union and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles – or rather a first installment, sources say. That’s of course unlike the usual process in such settlements where one spouse writes the other a check and has them make the publicly stated donation in their own time. While it seems unlikely that the very well-paid Depp wouldn’t be able to easily write a check for the full $7 million and be done with the matter, his new approach may indicate something else going on such as other stipulations in the couple’s divorce or concerns, a source close to the matter suggests.

    The duo married in February 2015 and Heard, who sought a restraining order against Depp in late May, filed for divorce this spring. The public scrutiny of the marriage dissolving came just as the Depp starring Alice Through the Looking Glass opened on Memorial Day weekend – to disappointing box office, it should be added.

    Hearings and depositions were scheduled but it all seemed to end as well as it could at the last minute. Now, after what was termed an unsuccessful marriage “bound by love,” in an August 16 joint statement announcing the settlement and their divorce, things have once again gotten messy between Depp and Heard it seems – and there is undoubtedly more to come in this very public war of words and donations.

    Johnny Depp Boards Yacht in Ibiza Following Divorce Settlement: Actor 'Seemed Pretty Relaxed' During Getaway, Source Says

    (Pic) Johnny Depp is taking some time to relax now that his divorce drama with ex Amber Heard has come to a close.

    The actor, 53, was spotted climbing aboard a yacht in Ibiza, Spain, on Monday. Depp carried a drink in hand as he stepped off a small speedboat and onto the Prince Abdulaziz, a 430-foot luxury yacht that was reportedly once owned by Saudi Arabia's King Fahd before being passed down to his son.

    The actor donned his signature black-and-white attire, wearing a pair of black striped pants, black vest and a short-sleeve white button-down shirt exposing his impressive tattoo collection. He kept his look low-key, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a black hat for the day.

    Depp has spent the majority of his time at sea over the past few weeks, only taking brief pit stops to visit his home in Los Angeles.

    Before arriving in Ibiza, Depp visited Puerto Portals, on the island of Mallorca in Spain, to dine at a local restaurant on Sunday.

    "He just came for dinner with some friends. It looked like it was just him and his security," an onlooker tells PEOPLE. "He was really cool – he posed for some pictures with fans and seemed pretty relaxed. It caught everyone by surprise as nobody was expecting it"

    This is the first time the actor has stepped out since reaching a $7 million divorce settlement with Heard last week.

    The former couple confirmed the settlement in a joint statement to PEOPLE, saying, "Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain."

    A judge also dismissed the domestic violence case against Depp and terminated Heard's temporary restraining order against him, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.

    Doug Stanhope’s Johnny Depp-Produced Stand-up Special Gets Seeso Premiere Date

    Seeso has set a September 15 launch date for No Place Like Home, the latest concert special from veteran stand-up comic Doug Stanhope. The list of executive producers includes Johnny Depp, along with Christi Dembrowski, Brian Hennigan, Sam Sarkar and Brian Volk-Weiss. Brian Hennigan directed and produced the special.

    Taped in November in Stanhope’s hometown of Brisbee, AZ, near Tucson, No Place Like Home is not exactly a love letter to political correctness. Among the lighthearted comedy topics: ISIS beheadings, global poverty, Vietnam vets and LGBT issues — not to mention caring for the mentally ill, being locked up abroad and why everyone should kick like they kick. Also in for some jabs are Gabrielle Giffords, the Duggar daughters, Caitlyn Jenner and the late Robin Williams.

    Seeso, the ad-free streaming channel, describes his stand-up as being “fueled by equal amounts of anger, outrage and alcohol,” adding that he “rails against Western civilization’s slide into apathy and stupidity, always on the edge of implosion yet fully in control and never afraid to risk upsetting his audiences.”

    Depp and Stanhope are longtime close friends and recently visited the Comedy Store together. Their relationship was put in the spotlight a few months ago when Stanhope became involved in Depp’s dispute with now-ex-wife Amber Heard by publicly siding with his pal and going after Heard, leading to a defamation lawsuit against him by the actress.

    Amber Heard -- My $7 Million Settlement Is Fighting Violence Against Women

    Amber Heard is giving ALL of her Johnny Depp divorce settlement money to 2 charities.

    Amber confirmed what TMZ first reported ... the settlement amount is $7 million, and she tells us, "The donation will be divided equally between the ACLU, with a particular focus to stop violence against women, and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, where I have worked as a volunteer for the past 10 years."

    Amber's also reiterating what she and Johnny said in their joint statement -- that the divorce wasn't about financial gain. She says, "Money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves."

    Amber says she forfeited all residuals Johnny earned from movie deals he made during their 15-month marriage ... which she'd be entitled to because there was no prenup.

    A rep for Children's Hospital thanked Heard and said, "her generosity will support the lifesaving treatments and cures that CHLA provides for critically ill children each year."

    Amber added, "Hopefully this experience results in a positive change in the lives of people who need it the most."

    Johnny Depp 'Relieved' Divorce Is Settled, Gets to Keep Condo: 'Amber Has to Move Her Things Out,' Says Source

    Johnny Depp is breathing a sigh of relief after settling his nasty divorce with Amber Heard.

    "Johnny is very relieved that it's all over," a source close to the actor tells PEOPLE.

    Not only can Depp now put the divorce behind him, he also gets to keep his downtown Los Angeles condo, where an alleged domestic violence incident occurred between the former couple on May 21, two days before Heard filed for divorce.

    "Johnny's downtown condo was not part of the divorce settlement, and Amber has to move her things out," says the source.

    A rep for Heard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The actress has been busy filming her latest movie, Justice League, in London for the last several weeks.

    Police were called to the apartment on May 21, after Heard claimed in legal documents that Depp "threw [a] cellphone at me striking my cheek with great force" during a heated argument. She also claimed, "Johnny continued screaming at me, pulling my hair, striking me and violently grabbing my face."

    Heard alleged Depp left the apartment after she texted her longtime friend and neighbor Raquel Pennington, who arrived at the couple's home and entered with a key previously provided by the actress, according to court documents.

    An LAPD spokesperson told PEOPLE at the time that officers responded to the scene but determined "there was no evidence of any crime."

    Heard requested and was granted a temporary restraining order against Depp, and in court documents responding to Heard's initial filing, Depp's attorney, Laura Wasser, alleged that the actress was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

    Police were called again to the apartment on June 13. Neither party was present at the time, but Heard's team reportedly alerted the cops after friends of Depp's allegedly began removing personal items from the home in what Heard's team believed was a violation of Depp's restraining order. No arrests were made, and the LAPD told PEOPLE "officers left the location after keeping the peace."

    Depp and Heard reached a divorce settlement outside of court on Tuesday, just one day before their scheduled restraining order hearing.

    The former couple confirmed the settlement in a carefully worded joint statement to PEOPLE, saying, "Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain."

    According to TMZ, Depp is set to pay the actress $7 million as part of the settlement.

    On Tuesday, a judge dismissed the domestic violence case against Depp and terminated his temporary restraining order, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.

    Amber Heard Drops Johnny Depp Restraining Order Request As Couple Settle Dispute

    The domestic violence dispute and divorce proceedings between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard that exploded just before the release of Alice Through The Looking Glass this spring is over as of today. The timing of today’s filing and end of the case is telling, as attorneys for Depp and Heard were set to face off on Wednesday in a four-to-five day hearing on the matter in L.A. Superior Court.

    Represented by lawyers Samantha Spector and the recently retained Pierce O’Donnell, the London Fields actress filed paperwork this morning in L.A. Superior Court withdrawing her request for a restraining order against her now soon to be ex-husband. The dismissal was with prejudice, which means she cannot re-file the matter. Though that seems moot as the two have also come to a multi-million dollar divorce settlement that ends their just over a year-and-a-half-long marriage.

    “Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love,” said the two in a joint statement Tuesday. “Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm.”

    Heard is to receive around $7.6 million in the divorce, sources say. The actress was granted a temporary restraining order on May 27 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carl Moor requiring Depp to stay 100 yards away from her. There was great concern that the matter might affect the opening of the Disney distributed Alice sequel, which tanked at the box office.

    “Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future,” today’s joint statement adds. “Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity. There will be no further public statements about this matter.”

    The cards seemed to be in play this weekend when both actors were scheduled to give depositions – Depp never showed up for his, I’ve learned. Flying into town from UK where she is currently filming Justice League, Heard did give her depo this weekend.

    The matter was essentially resolved on Monday as lawyers from both parties looked at the evidence, media attention and circumstance in front of them and sat down. They hashed out the withdrawal of the RO and the finances of the divorce in a matter of hours.

    Spector of Spector Law and O’Donnell of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinge represented Heard while family law heavyweight Laura Wasser of L.A.’s Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles and criminal defense attorney Blair Berk of Tarlow & Berk handled the case for the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.

    The fifth installment in the swashbuckling franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is set to come on May 26 next year.

    Amber Heard, Johnny Depp -- Settlement Hits a Wall

    TMZ has learned there's a stalemate in the legal war between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp ... and it all has to do with a joint statement about what happened -- or didn't happen -- on May 21.

    Sources connected with Amber tell TMZ, the sticking point is that Amber wants a joint statement in which Johnny admits he committed domestic violence. Our Amber sources say Johnny's people came back loud and clear -- he will NEVER sign a document in which he admits to domestic violence because he never committed it.

    We're also told Amber demanded a phenomenal amount of money for their 15 month marriage. We're told the parties have settled on around $8 million, including lawyers' fees, but she wanted a lot more. Mind you -- all she'd be entitled to is half the earnings that were left after taxes and living expenses, and we're told they spent a lot of money together.

    And we've learned Amber has hired a new lawyer to helm her case -- famed attorney Pierce O'Donnell, who recently repped Shelly Sterling in the Donald Sterling saga.

    Johnny Depp -- Cuts Off Fingertip in Fit of Rage ... Amber Claims

    (Photos: Finger, Mirror) Johnny Depp accidentally cut off his fingertip in a fit of rage ... then dipped the stump in dark blue paint and wrote on the wall in paint and blood the name "Billy Bob" -- the actor with whom Johnny accused Amber Heard of cheating -- this according to Amber and her people.

    TMZ has obtained this gruesome photo of Johnny's butchered finger -- WARNING ... EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO LOOK AT. It's an exhibit in her domestic violence case against Johnny.

    We're told the incident went down in March of last year, just a month after Amber and Johnny married. They were in a villa in Australia when a fierce argument erupted.

    According to Amber's version of events Johnny, who was drunk and high on ecstasy, smashed several bottles and windows and also slammed a plastic phone against the wall unit. She claims a piece of one of the items cut off a portion of his forefinger.

    Amber's version goes on ... she's a painter and had dark blue paint in the room. She claims Johnny dipped what remained of his forefinger in the paint and then used the gnarly digit to write various words on the wall, including "Billy Bob" and "Easy Amber."

    Amber had done a movie with Billy Bob Thornton and she claims Johnny accused the 2 of sleeping together -- something she strongly denied, adding he accused her of infidelity with other men as well.

    Amber's people say Johnny didn't get medical help for nearly 24 hours, so doctors could not reattach the fingertip ... they used a flap from his hand to sew on a new tip.

    It's the latest twist in an acrimonious case. A video leaked Friday of Johnny in a rage, smashing a wine bottle and glass.

    Johnny Depp -- Goes Off on Amber Heard ... Smashes Wine Glass, Bottle

    (Video) Johnny Depp went crazy on Amber Heard in their kitchen, throwing a wine bottle and glass ... and she videotaped it.

    We're told the video was shot months before the May 21 incident in which Amber claims Johnny struck her.

    Amber asks Johnny if he drank a bottle of wine and tries to calm him down. She says she was sorry for something although she was not specific.

    Johnny isn't having it, and appears out of control. After throwing the glass and bottle, you see him swiping at Amber's phone ... trying to get it from her.

    Sources connected with Johnny tell TMZ ... the video is "heavily edited" and there are portions where Amber is seen smiling and egging him on. The sources add the video was a complete set up by Amber.

    It's also likely the tape would not be admissible in court, partly because it's edited but more importantly because it appears he does not know he's being videotaped and she'd have to get his permission.

    Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Prepare for Trial: How Both Sides Are Handling Their Divorce Drama

    Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's divorce drama is headed to the courtroom.

    Less than a week before a domestic violence restraining order hearing begins in Los Angeles, E! News has obtained court documents that show Amber's witness list.

    According to documents, close friend Raquel Pennington and her boyfriend Joshua Drew "will testify to personal observations relating to incidents of domestic violence by [Johnny] including, but not limited to, the domestic violence incident which occurred on May 21, 2016."

    Friend iO Tillet Wright is also slated to testify and share her "personal observations" relating to incidents of domestic violence. Back in June, she wrote an essay for Refinery29 explaining why she called police on Johnny.

    In comparison to Amber's list that has seven people, we can confirm that Johnny's witness list will have 23 people.

    According to documents obtained by E! News, two officers who responded to the May 21 incident will testify as well as two security guards who were in the unit on the day in question. Housekeeper Hilda Vargas will also testify about a "discovery" in the home. The documents do not describe the discovery.

    Johnny and Amber are also expected to take the stand and testify.

    In regards to the exhibit list, court documents show that Johnny's side will include Amber's domestic violence report from the State of Washington. E! News can also confirm that Amber's exhibit list features "photographs depicting injuries," text messages between the couple and audio tapes relating to communication between 2015 and 2016.

    Evidence and witnesses aside, a source close to Amber tells E! News that Johnny doesn't want the divorce drama dragged out longer than it has to be. In addition, he wants things finalized as quickly as possible.

    As for Amber, our source assured us that "Amber is ready to move forward and wants people to know the truth."

    E! News has reached out to Johnny and Amber's team for additional comment.

    For more information on domestic abuse or to get help for yourself/someone you love, visit the website for The National Domestic Violence Hotline or call 1-800-799-7233.

    Amber Heard's Temporary Restraining Order Against Johnny Depp Extended by Judge, Domestic Violence Hearing Date Pushed Back

    A status hearing regarding the court case between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp was held today, and the conference resulted in the domestic violence hearing getting pushed back.

    Heard, who is currently in London, was represented by lawyer Samantha Spector and co-counsel Joseph P. Koenig, while Depp was represented by celeb renowned lawyer Laura Wasser. E! News learned that one of the main topics discussed at the beginning of the hearing is the issue of getting their depositions done.

    Wasser adamantly said Johnny wouldn't do his deposition until Amber does hers first, so the court ordered each depo to be scheduled for later this week. Wasser asked for extra time between the depositions and the start date for the hearing (which was slated for Monday), explaining to the judge, "This is really weighing heavily on my client."

    Wasser went on to say that she "would like to do it in the most expeditious manner to get it done and behind us."

    Therefore, the judge told both parties that the domestic violence hearing will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 17, as opposed to Monday, and extended Heard's temporary restraining order to that date. The judge also made it clear that neither Heard nor Depp may be present during the other party's deposition.

    Over the weekend, Depp's camp reportedly claimed that the actress refused to be deposed by the actor's camp, however E! News heard differently.

    "Although Amber was ready, willing and able to go forward with her deposition, it was not taken by Johnny's attorneys," our source said at the time. "She waited for 10 hours and at no time, did Amber ever refuse to start the deposition."

    This was again reiterated by Heard's camp in court today. Koenig said the best way to describe it is that "the deposition did not start" and it wasn't that Amber refused.

    We've also learned that should this case go to trial, both Heard and Depp have submitted their lists of witnesses who are willing to testify.

    According to documents obtained by E! News, close friend Raquel Pennington and her boyfriend Joshua Drew "will testify to personal observations relating to incidents of domestic violence by [Johnny] including, but not limited to, the domestic violence incident which occurred on May 21, 2016."

    Friend iO Tillet Wright is also slated to testify and share her "personal observations" relating to incidents of domestic violence. Back in June, she wrote an essay for Refinery29 explaining why she called police on Johnny.

    All three individuals were named in Heard's initial court documents that were filed against Depp.

    Meanwhile, TMZ reports that while Heard has a list of seven witnesses slated to speak under oath during the trial, Depp allegedly has 23 witnesses he plans to have speak on his behalf. No names on his end were disclosed.

    Source: Johnny Depp Wants Divorce Finalized – but Is Concerned About Financial Settlement

    Johnny Depp wants his divorce drama with ex Amber Heard to come to an end.

    "Johnny would like to see this divorce finalized as soon as possible," a Depp source tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "He's concerned with the financial settlement and how she will react going forward."

    But while the actor, 52, may be eager to speed along the legal proceedings, they hit yet another roadblock over the weekend. Heard, 30, was scheduled to give her deposition in her ongoing restraining order case against the actor on Saturday – but was never questioned. (In court papers, Wasser has argued that Heard is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse.)

    Though the actress arrived at the office of Depp's attorney Laura Wasser in Los Angeles, she was never called in to testify about her domestic abuse claims.

    "Amber was ready, willing and able to go forward with her deposition," says a Heard source. "She waited for 10 hours, and at no time did Amber refuse to start the deposition."

    While the source wouldn't elaborate on what exactly happened, both sides were reportedly discussing a settlement. Depp is also scheduled to be deposed, and both he and Heard are expected to appear in court on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16.

    The Heard source says the actress wants to move on too: "Amber and her attorneys are ready to proceed."

    Johnny Depp Vacations in Ibiza (with a New Look) as Amber Heard's Deposition Stalls

    (Pic1, Pic2) Johnny Depp is taking a Spanish siesta ahead of his next court date in his ongoing divorce from Amber Heard.

    The actor was spotted arriving in Ibiza, Spain, via private jet over the weekend, and sources say he is currently renting a villa on the island. On Saturday, he was photographed smiling while boarding a yacht. He wore aviators with a loose poncho and jeans, while sporting a new haircut and mustache.

    Meanwhile, Heard returned to Los Angeles from London – where she's working on her new film, Justice League – for her scheduled deposition last Saturday.

    But a source says Heard's deposition was never taken, though she was willing to give it.

    "Although Amber was ready, willing and able to go forward with her deposition, it was not taken by Johnny's attorneys," the source says. "She waited for 10 hours and at no time did Amber ever refuse to start the deposition. There was nothing preventing Johnny's counsel from commencing the deposition during that time."

    The source did not clarify what happened during that time, but lawyer Steve Mindel, who is not affiliated with the case, says that the parties may be working on a private settlement or planning other legal maneuvers before the deposition.

    "I suspect that this was a great time for both sides to talk settlement, considering neither party ultimately wants to be deposed," Mindel says.

    In the few weeks before Heard returned to London for work, she was spotted in Miami, where she spent time with Tesla founder and tech billionaire Elon Musk. They were later photographed partying at the same London club. A source previously told PEOPLE the two are not dating, and "are friends and have been for a few years."

    Moving forward, both Heard and Depp are expected to appear in court for the domestic violence restraining order hearing, which is scheduled for Aug. 15 and Aug. 16.

    Heard was granted a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband in May after claiming Depp abused her during their relationship. She filed the request shortly after filing for divorce from the actor.

    In court documents responding to Heard's request for a restraining order, Depp legal team alleged that Heard "is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

    An insider told PEOPLE that Depp is ready to move past both his ongoing divorce from Heard and the case.

    "It's a very sad situation for him," the source said. "He feels stressed about all the Amber drama ... He never anticipated getting a divorce. He just wants it all the be over and move on."

    Johnny Depp 'Stressed' About Amber Heard Divorce: 'He Just Wants It All to Be Over' Says Source

    Johnny Depp has been rocked hard by his divorce and ongoing legal battles with his estranged wife Amber Heard.

    Though the actor, 53, has remained silent about his split from Heard, a source close to Depp tells PEOPLE he's felt the strain of the split.

    "He feels stressed about all the Amber drama," says the insider. "He never anticipated getting a divorce. He just wants it all the be over and move on."

    "It's a very sad situation for him," the source adds.

    Heard was granted a temporary restraining order against Depp on May 27, just one week after she filed for divorce. In the court filing, the actress claimed the actor was abusive to her throughout the "entirety" of their relationship.

    In a response to Heard's claim, Depp's divorce attorney, Laura Wasser, said in court documents that "Amber is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

    Amidst the allegations, Depp remained on tour with his band The Hollywood Vampires performing at numerous venues around Europe and the U.S.

    "The tour couldn't have happened at a better time," the insider says. "He had no choice but to stay focused on his performances."

    During a break on the tour, Depp spent time relaxing on his private island in the Bahamas. But since the tour wrapped on July 25, the Alice Through the Looking Glass actor has been living in Los Angeles, a source tells PEOPLE. Depp has been spending time with daughter Lily-Rose, 17, and son Jack, 14. Most recently, they held a memorial for Depp's mother, Betty Sue Palmer, at Ago Restaurant in West Hollywood.

    "Spending time with his kids is his focus," says the source.

    Heard was spotted in Miami last weekend spending time with tech guru Elon Musk. Despite rumors of a possible relationship, a source maintains they're not dating.

    After months of rescheduling and postponements, Depp's legal team is set to depose Heard on Saturday in her ongoing restraining order case.

    The temporary restraining order against Depp was reissued in June, and a court hearing for a permanent order has been scheduled for Aug. 15 and 16.

    Amber Heard -- I'll Be Back for My Depo ... and Johnny Can Watch

    Amber Heard has been cavorting in London this week, but we're told she will absolutely be back for her deposition on Saturday ... and Johnny Depp could be watching the whole thing.

    Our sources say Amber is locked and loaded for the depo, which is set for 10 AM Saturday morning. Johnny's lawyers, we're told, plan to grill her on her claim Johnny physically attacked her. We're told the depo could last 7 hours, and the range of inquiry includes statements from cops and witnesses who say she showed no signs of injury and nothing was broken in the downtown L.A. loft.

    Johnny could be at the depo -- he has a right to show -- but both sides have to sign off on him being present because a restraining order is currently in place.

    We're also told Johnny must sit for his deposition next week.

    If the case is going to settle, this is the time. We're told settlement discussions are ongoing.

    Johnny Depp's Legal Team Sets Date to Depose Amber Heard in Court

    Johnny Depp's legal team finally has a set date to depose Amber Heard in court.

    According to legal docs, Depp's lawyers were in court Tuesday for an emergency hearing, during which they persuaded a judge to set a date for Heard's deposition.

    The judge ruled that the actress must answer questions from Depp's legal team on Aug. 6, according to the paperwork.

    Depp's team had asked to depose Heard in early June, but according to sources and court documents previously obtained by PEOPLE, the court denied the request because Depp's lawyers failed to give Heard the required 10-day notice. In addition, Heard's team claimed she was unavailable to be deposed at the time due to scheduling conflicts with her friend's engagement in New Jersey, and her new movie, Justice League, which is filming in England. However, Heard stated in court docs, "I remain willing to attend my deposition on a mutually convenient date in the future and cooperate with any required requests in that regard."

    On Tuesday, Heard's legal team filed documents claiming Depp and his team are attempting to "thwart" their divorce proceedings, and that he is "smearing [Heard] at every turn."

    The documents address the filing Depp's team submitted last week, which request that any forthcoming information discovered during the proceedings, including financial information and witness statements, remain confidential.

    Heard filed for divorce from Depp in May, and later accused the actor of domestic abuse. Depp's lawyer has said Heard is "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

    Johnny Depp -- Amber Heard's Gonna Ruin My Credit

    Johnny Depp believes he can't get a fair shake in his courtroom showdown with Amber Heard until his lawyers grill her in a deposition -- and if that doesn't happen it could cost him dearly.

    Depp's team was in court Tuesday for an emergency hearing to settle critical issues in the case. His side says Johnny has every right to confront Amber over her "meritless" accusations of domestic violence.

    In docs, Depp says if he can't depose her he'll be behind the 8 ball in his effort to defend himself, and could lose the case. And there's this -- he's worried a loss could affect him emotionally and financially. He points out a permanent restraining order would appear on future credit checks.

    Yes, even with an estimated net worth of $400 mil ... he's worried about credit.

    As we reported ... Amber's depo has been delayed because they couldn't settle on a date, but the judge settled the matter. It's now scheduled for August 6 -- a Saturday.

    Amber Heard to Johnny Depp -- Stop Stonewalling the Divorce

    Johnny Depp's making it damn near impossible to get the divorce settlement rolling because he's put up a bunch of roadblocks in the case ... according to Amber Heard.

    Amber just filed legal docs, obtained by TMZ, accusing Johnny of refusing to hand over financial docs needed to settle the divorce case. As we've reported ... Depp's team wants her to sign a non-disclosure agreement before giving up the goods.

    But in the docs, Amber says the non-disclosure agreement is ridiculous because it calls for a $100k fine each time his financial info is leaked -- not just by Amber, but even by her forensic accountant. Amber says it's an outrageous demand ... and just a ploy to thwart real progress in this case.

    Of course, Johnny's team would say ... the fine won't matter if the agreement isn't violated.

    The other issue -- setting a date for Amber's deposition. His side has proposed August 3 and 8, but Amber says she's scheduled to be in London working on "Justice League." She's offered to fly back on a Saturday, but she says Johnny's team isn't willing to work weekends.

    Both sides are due in court Tuesday to hammer out the issues.

    Johnny Depp -- I Won't Give Amber My Financials Till She Shuts Her Trap

    Amber Heard leaks like a sieve, at least when it comes to yapping to the media, so claims Johnny Depp, who does not want to give her any of his financial info unless she swears to keep it private.

    Johnny just filed legal docs, obtained by TMZ, in which he concedes Amber is entitled to know something about his financial situation in order to get her cut in their divorce, but he says she has refused to sign a confidentiality agreement.

    In the docs Johnny's lawyer, disso queen Laura Wasser, claims Amber and her team have been blabbing to the media, suggesting that a TMZ story about details in their settlement negotiations came from Amber's camp.

    Johnny also has a problem with the scope of Amber's demands for financial docs. She's asking for records from Johnny's Hollywood Vampire bandmates -- Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum -- which he says is absurd.

    Johnny Depp selling Venetian mansion amid divorce drama

    (Pic) Johnny Depp is selling off one of his sweethearts — a stunning Venetian palace.

    The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor has put the four-story mansion that overlooks Venice’s Grand Canal on the market for $10.9 million, according to the Italian newspaper Affari Italiani.

    The historic Palazzo Donà Sanguiantoffetti, the former stomping grounds of a noble Venetian family known for their ships that were used to battle the Turks, has seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and even a private area to dock boats.

    The 53-year-old Hollywood star, who is currently going through a bitter divorce battle with actress Amber Heard, bought the charming property back in 2011 when he was in the area filming “The Tourist” with Angelina Jolie.

    He plunked down nearly $10 million — beating out an Arabian prince who had his sights set on the palace.

    Italian media reported that his decision to sell his Italian home is connected to his ongoing divorce with Heard, who accused him of physically assaulting her numerous times throughout their 15-month marriage.

    She obtained a restraining order in May and was scheduled to testify against him last month, but it was postponed while the former lovers’ legal teams try to work out a settlement.

    If no resolution is reached, they will be due back in court Aug. 2.

    Johnny Depp Meets with Paralyzed Fan Ahead of Concert: 'It Meant the World to Me'

    (Pic1, Pic2, Pic3) When Amanda Currie bought advance tickets last year to see her hero, Johnny Depp, in concert, she had no idea that she would be paralyzed from the neck down by the time of the show.

    The 23-year-old Chicopee, Massachusetts, native was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, in 2015 while completing her bachelor's degree in mathematics. Currie underwent brain surgery the day after her diagnosis, and was able to finish her degree and begin working toward her master's while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.

    Currie fell in love with Depp at the age of 10, and continued to admire the actor's work as she grew up. She's seen all of his movies repeatedly, collects all sorts of Depp memorabilia and sometimes refers to him as "love of her life."

    So when her Uncle Chris told her that Depp's band, the Hollywood Vampires, were doing a show at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, Currie splurged and bought herself a single meet-and-greet ticket in April for the July 2 concert.

    "Amanda was beyond excited knowing that her lifelong dream of meeting Johnny Depp would come true," her mom Kim tells PEOPLE. "But by May, Amanda's physical state declined and she had lost use of her legs."

    Her condition continued to worsen as the concert approached, and soon Currie was completely paralyzed from the neck down. "At that point we didn't know what to do or if she would be strong enough to go," Kim explains. "She knew it was nearly impossible, but continued to talk about it and count off the days. At one point she actually said she thought she could live long enough to go."

    Currie's friend Tianna was determined to make that wish come true. With her help, a local ambulance company agreed to donate an ambulance and two EMTs to take her to the show. Meanwhile, Uncle Chris was working behind-the-scenes with the Hollywood Vampires to arrange for the band to meet with her.

    When Uncle Chris and Tianna finally broke the news, Currie was beside herself with excitement and remembers shouting, "What am I going to wear?"

    Before the show, Depp and his bandmates, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, met with Currie inside her ambulance. Asked to describe what it was like meeting her idol after overcoming so many obstacles, Currie says, "It was wonderful, amazing and awesome. It was everything I ever wished for and more – the best thing that ever happened to me."

    As for getting to know Depp, Currie says, "He was understanding and sweet and so hot! He is talkative, charming and funny and very down-to-earth. It was very exciting to meet him, a huge rush."

    She adds, "The whole experience was magical. I still can't believe it's real, even though I have pictures to prove it. I will remember most how caring and sincere he was. He makes you feel special – you can't top that! He encouraged me to fight this cancer."

    Currie was able to watch the show from backstage and says the performance was "10 out of 10 amazing. The music was really good and Johnny's performance was wonderful." During the show, the Hollywood Vampires dedicated the performance to "their friend Amanda."

    "That was the best day of my life," Currie says. "It meant the world to me."

    Depp made good on his promise to hang out with her after the show as well. "What he said was my secret, and I can't tell you," Currie jokes.

    She also made sure to mention that while she came to see Depp, "Alice Cooper's and Joe Perry's generosity, kindness and compassion did not go unnoticed!"

    Currie will carry on her difficult battle with her illness, but she considers herself fortunate to have had such a rare experience. "I am very lucky to have had the chance to meet Johnny Depp," she says. "Many people have wishes and dreams, not everyone gets the chance to realize theirs in their lifetime."

    The Hollywood Vampires will temporarily go on without Joe Perry

    The Hollywood Vampires will resume their tour Tuesday night without ailing Joe Perry, who is planning to return to the stage at a later date.

    A representative for the band said that Perry “will rejoin his fellow Vampires onstage again soon.” Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper also are members of the band, which is scheduled to play at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, Ohio, on Tuesday.

    The representative said that the 65-year-old Aerosmith guitarist was “doing well” after he walked off a New York City stage Sunday during a performance and was taken to a hospital.

    An administrator at Coney Island Hospital confirmed Perry had undergone tests after becoming ill while performing with the Hollywood Vampires at the Ford Amphitheater in Brooklyn’s Coney Island.

    Hollywood Vampires Cancel Their Appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Following Joe Perry's Collapse

    The Hollywood Vampires have canceled their appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in the wake of guitarist Joe Perry's collapse during a concert in Brooklyn on Sunday night.

    Perry appeared disoriented as he walked onto the stage at Ford Amphitheater on the Coney Island Boardwalk on Sunday evening. He then propped himself up on the drum riser before stumbling backstage and collapsing.

    Perry's Twitter account shared an update hours after the health scare reassuring fans that he was recovering. He remains in stable condition, but CBS confirms that the band will not perform on Monday's broadcast of The Late Show.

    The rock supergroup, which also consists of Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper, are in the midst of their first U.S. tour and were poised to make their late night debut Monday evening on The Late Show. Their musical guest spot will be filled by Blink-182, who are currently supporting California – their first new album in five years.

    Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker recently spoke to PEOPLE about his new lease on life after surviving drug addiction and a deadly plane crash. "I'm feeling younger and better now than I did when I was 20," says the 40-year-old father of two. "I was probably one of the most unhealthy human beings, from what I ate to what I put in my body."

    Barker adds. "There have been so many hardships in my life. Now I know how to handle them ... I just feel so blessed."

    Johnny Depp Has "SLIM" Tattoo Changed to "SCUM" Amid Amber Heard Divorce

    Johnny Depp appears to have pulled a "Wino Forever"...twice.

    The 53-year-old actor recently debuted a new knuckle tattoo that reads "SCUM" in place of previous ink that read "SLIM." Many fans believe the latter was a reference for Amber Heard, who filed for divorce from Depp in May.

    He has also had a bicep tattoo of a pin-up model resembling Heard, which he sported as recently as last month, blackened out. The actor, who has many tattoos, has not commented.

    Heard, 30, is his second wife. He has dated several actresses over the years, including French performer Vanessa Paradis , with whom he has two children. More than 25 years ago, he was engaged for a while to his Edward Scissorhands co-star Winona Ryder.

    During their time together, he had the words "Winona Forever" tattooed on his bicep. After they broke up in 1992, he had the ink changed to read "Wino Forever."

    After Heard filed for divorce, she also obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp, alleging he committed domestic violence. Depp's lawyer said the actress "is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse." Both cases are pending.

    Ryder recently spoke about Depp's treatment of her while they were in a relationship.

    "He was never, never that way towards me. Never abusive at all towards me," she told TIME. "I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves. It's hard because I feel like. That's my experience. And it's been a very long time."

    Meanwhile, Depp is concentrating on his side music career. He recently returned to the stage with his, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry's supergroup, the Hollywood Vampires. The band performed in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Friday night to begin a U.S. tour after a short hiatus, which had followed shows in Europe.

    Depp had also visited a famous Los Angeles comedy club last weekend, where he surprised the audience with an onstage appearance.

    Johnny Depp Steps Out with His Kids in L.A.: He 'Really Missed' Them, Says Source

    Johnny Depp is spending time with his children in Los Angeles after recently returning stateside.

    The actor, who is in the midst of a contentious divorce from estranged wife Amber Heard, was spotted getting dinner at Ago Restaurant in West Hollywood with daughter Lily-Rose, 17, and son Jack, 14.

    Last week, a source told PEOPLE that Lily-Rose recently visited her father on his private island in the Bahamas, where Johnny retreated after completing the first leg of his European tour with the Hollywood Vampires.

    "Having his kids around is always great for him. He has really missed his kids," the source said.

    Depp has kept a low profile since Heard leveled shocking domestic abuse allegations against him. The star gave his first public interview since the split last weekend on the Jones's Jukebox radio talk show, but spoke only about touring with his band.

    The group is set to kick off their U.S. tour Friday in Pennsylvania, and Depp is expected to take the stage with his bandmates as scheduled.

    On Aug. 15 and 16, a Los Angeles court is due to address Heard's request for a permanent restraining order against Depp. A temporary restraining order was reissued to Heard in the interim.

    In a response to Heard's allegations, Depp's lawyers claimed in court documents that the actress was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

    Meanwhile, Heard has been seen out several times in Los Angeles amid the divorce proceedings.

    Johnny Depp picks up $11.5M in Basquiat art sale

    Johnny Depp sold off two Jean-Michel Basquiat artworks at a Christie’s auction on Wednesday for $4,745,258 and $6,838,538.

    The actor — who’s in a bruising divorce war with Amber Heard — was selling a total of eight Basquiats via Christie’s at auctions Wednesday and Thursday in London.

    The works that sold on Wednesday included the 1981 pieces “Pork” and “Self-Portrait,” which more than doubled its high estimate at nearly $4.8 million.

    The Basquiat works were being offered as part of a Christie’s 250th anniversary sale.

    Johnny Depp Interview

    Johnny Depp and The Hollywood Vampires In-Studio: Listen.

    Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder: A Look Back at Their Glamorous, Tempestuous Romance

    Johnny Depp has had a number of high-profile relationships over the years, but one of his most famous exes is coming to his defense following abuse allegations by Amber Heard.

    Winona Ryder, who dated the 52-year-old actor for four years in the 1990s, recently told Time that Depp was "never abusive at all" during their relationship.

    "I can only speak from my own experience, which was wildly different than what is being said," Ryder, 44, tells the magazine. "He was never, never that way towards me. Never abusive at all towards me. I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves."

    Although she speaks highly of him now, Ryder and Depp had a complicated, highly publicized relationship.

    Depp and Ryder famously began dating after meeting at the New York premiere of Great Balls of Fire! in 1989 when he was 27 and she was 18. They went on their first date two months later.

    "There's been nothing in my 27 years that's comparable to the feeling I have with Winona," Depp once told PEOPLE after meeting Ryder.

    The couple got engaged five months after their first date, and Depp even got a tattoo on his right arm that read "Winona Forever." They also costarred in the 1990 film Edward Scissorhands.

    In June 1993, the couple announced their engagement was off. Soon after, Depp had his tattoo altered to read "Wino Forever."

    In a 2009 interview with Elle, Ryder called Depp her "first real breakup, the first heartbreak."

    "And I think it was really ironic because, like, everybody else just thought I had everything in the world, you know, I had no reason to be depressed, everything was sort of at its peak, but inside I was completely lost," she said of the split at the height of her career.

    A few months later, Depp moved on to a volatile relationship with model Kate Moss.

    The actor recently decamped to his private Bahamas island after wrapping up the European leg of his tour with his band The Hollywood Vampires. He has since returned to Los Angeles, where he was spotted at comedy club The Comedy Store on Saturday.

    On June 16, a temporary restraining order against the actor was reissued amid his acrimonious divorce from Heard. Their next court hearing on the matter has been pushed back to August.

    Johnny Depp -- Back in L.A. ... Working the Comedy Circuit

    (Pic1, Pic2) Johnny Depp returned to L.A. for the first time since his domestic violence allegations surfaced, and his first stop in public, was a stage at the famous Comedy Store.

    Depp was at the legendary Sunset Strip location Saturday night with a few friends, including comedian Doug Stanhope ... who's been viciously defending Johnny against Amber Heard.

    Witnesses tell us Johnny surprised the crowd by getting onstage and mumbled something most people couldn't understand ... it's kinda his thing nowadays.

    But we're told the crowd went nuts cause no one expected to see him, and it was a great intro for Mat Edgar who was about to perform.

    #ToughActToFollow

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